the Half Human Doll
by Glenn and Katina Rentholen
Summary: A little girl recieves a Doll for her 13th birthday. What's so special about it? Well let's see.. It's not just ANY doll? (IY Main character. IYK later on) COMPLEATE Kat
1. The Girl and Her Doll

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter one: Little girl, Little World  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The doll was perfect in everyway. Knowing that this was perfect for his grand-daughters birthday, the old man brought it to the front counter of the dusty shop.   
  
" How much for this Doll, Dori-san?" he asked, with a smile, " she will adore this."  
  
The man behind the counter turned, his once black hair all but white, and his gold brown eyes bright. When he saw the doll, his face drooped a little bit, showing his age. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was older, Dori-san, or the girls grandfather.   
  
"The doll is not for sale, Haki-san." he said firmly, " You cannot buy it."  
  
"It was on the shelf." the old man argued, " And Katherine would love it. She's been so sick lately, and lonely." he protested, " She would love this doll. He would be perfect to keep her company when she is at home alone."  
  
Dori thought for a long moment, and sighed. He put his hand on the counter, palm down. " I tell you what.." he said slowly, and carefully, as though he were weighing each word, " You leave the doll here with me... Let me wrap it. I will bring it to your Katherine. She will like him, indeed." he said, " But the doll is not for sale. If She does like him as much as you say she will, you may have him for free."  
  
Hakisha stared at Dori for a moment, " Dori-san.. I cannot take such fine craftsmanship without paying a price.." he protested again, " she will love the doll, but I cannot take him for nothing."  
  
Dori took a deep breath, and nodded, " alright then, how's this.." he put a wooden box up on the counter from under a pile of dusty velvet that Hakisha had not seen. " You buy the box that I put him in.. and he comes with the box." he winked.  
  
This, Hakisha could not refused. It was too good of a price for the doll that would make his granddaughter so happy. He gladly paid the price, putting the bills and coins on the counter. " the change does not matter." he said with a smile, " Come to the house Wednesday." he said, " and thank you so much. You don't know how happy she is going to be."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When Haki had left, Dori looked at the doll sitting on his counter. " I told you not to come out into this part of the shop, didn't I? this is what happens, you know."  
  
The doll, suddenly animate, huffed and crossed his arms, his little white ears twitching. "I was tired of sitting in the back." he said in a snotty tone, " Besides, it's not as though I ever get to see anyone."  
  
The shop keeper made a noise in his throat, " I honestly have no idea how Mother put up with you." he sat down again, and crossed his own arms.   
  
The doll glared, " Don't you bring her into this." he commanded. For his small body, his voice was strong and deep.   
  
Dori sighed, and leaned back, " I suppose I shouldn't, should I?" He frowned deeply, " but she isn't going to be happy when she finds out that you are not with me anymore."  
  
Twitching his ears again, the doll sighed, " She'll be alright." he said, " You will be too. You know these people well enough that I know you will come and visit."  
  
"Honestly..." Dori grumbled.  
  
"What's this kid like anyhow?" the doll asked, he sat cross legged on the counter, his little sheath resting on his shoulder, "The one that the old man bought me for."  
  
Dori blinked, " you mean, you don't remember her? " he looked surprised, " you saw her once, a long time ago. she came into the store while you were up front with me. She liked your ears, as I remember."  
  
the dolls face turned red. "You can't be serious. That little twerp?!" He thought back to the embarrassing morning when the old man had brought in this little girl with crutches. He had, at first, wondered what was wrong with her... But when she saw him, she grabbed his ears, and played with them, amazed at his realistic features, and furry ears. That stopped any wonder he had once had.  
  
"I warned you not to come up front during this time of day. He comes by almost every day now, looking for something for her." Dori leaned forward now, his hands on his knees, " Mother would have sold you to her ages ago." he said with a half smile.  
  
the doll jerked, obviously hot about the subject, " Kagome would have done no such thing!" he shouted bitterly, " I swear if I were my normal size again-"  
  
"I know, I know, you'd turn me over and give me a beating.. yes, father, I know."  
  
This seemed to satiate the doll for a moment, and he sighed, " I'm surprised you gave me up so easily." he said coldly.  
  
Dori looked strange for a moment, as though he were not his own cheerful shelf, and then shook his head, pursing his lips, "Father... I'm not young anymore." he looked at his hands, and then at the doll, " You're half demon. You'll live for a very long time yet... Me.. I'm.." he hesitated, " well I'm not young."  
  
The doll bit down on his lip. He knew better than to reprimand his son. Dori had certainly aged a lot over the past years since Kagome's death. He had smelled the scent of Death in the shop for months now, and even though Dori had said nothing to him about it, he knew that he was sick, and soon would leave this world.  
  
"I know."  
  
Dori smiled, his youthful smile from days long past, " But someone has to watch out for you! " he smirked, " You are a big trouble for a little doll."  
  
The doll snorted, and paced for a moment, " I wasn't always this way, if you'll kindly remember back." he said bitterly, "If that old woman hadn't put a curse on me, I'd still be my normal size."   
  
Dori looked at the wooden box on the counter that he had sold the Haki-san. "Haki-san said once that the girl had no dolls, but only books, and things of that nature. Maybe your being with her will make her happy again."  
  
The doll didn't argue this. He sighed, and sat down on top of the box. He couldn't care less if he made this girl happy. However, despite his unwillingness to admit it, he was worried about his son. Dori had been forced to take care of both of them for the past 15 years, and it hadn't been easy for him. Perhaps going to live with this young girl would be the right thing to do.  
  
Inu-Yasha didn't want to watch the rest of his family die.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: Lookit! Inu-Yasha's a dollie! I love that about him, he's just so cyute.. Why's he a doll you ask? Just read and find out! ~Kat 


	2. The speaking Doll

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Two: The speaking Doll  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
On Wednesday morning, There was much to do around the house that Katherine lived in. Her mother and grandmother and grandfather were all bustling about in such a manner like bees in a hive. There was a buzz in the air as the household prepared to give Katherine a birthday party in honor of her 13th birthday.   
  
The little girl, however, sat in the middle of her bedroom, book in her lap, reading away at faerie tales that helped her forget the real world.   
  
She didn't really want a birthday party, but her mother had felt that it would be good for her to start a 'new life' in a new way. This year would be her first year starting in a public school. The other years of her schooling had been spent with private tutors.   
  
However, the family doctor had recently said that it would be much better for the girls health if she were to get out of the house. And going to school would be the perfect way to have her out of the house almost everyday and in contact with other children her age.  
  
Of course, Katherine, who had no idea what this was all supposed to do for her health, had fussed against her mothers wishes, and had begged her family not to make her do this. She was happy, she said, to live among her family with her books and faerie tales!  
  
Her protests were ignored, and Katherine was enrolled to go to the local school in the following term.  
  
At Two o'clock that afternoon, the front doorbell rang. Standing at the door, cleaned up and smiling, stood Dori, holding a wooden box in his hand, tied with a red ribbon.   
  
Katherine turned from where she was sitting and smiled at him. She had always liked Dori from the first day she had met him in his dusty shop. But because of her deteriorating health, the young girl was unable to physically go to the shop. He had always, though, sent her the most interesting faerie tale books, and figures via her grandfather.  
  
Today, despite her unhappiness at her birthday party, she was happy to see him again, " Dori-san!" she cried from her chair, " Hello!"  
  
Dori slipped his shoes off at the front door, " Hello, Katherine.. Happy birthday!" he bowed a little bit, and walked to her with the box held out as an offering, "Look.." he smiled as he handed the box to her.  
  
"a red Ribbon!" she smiled happy for the first time that day, " My favorite color!"  
  
Dori winked, " I wouldn't dare forget." he joked, " open the box up.."  
  
Eyes glittering from happiness, Katherine opened up the wooden box, and lifted up the doll that was laying within. She stared at him for a moment, and smiled wide, " I LOVE him! Oh Thank you Dori-san!" she reached up for a hug from the older man, who obliged.  
  
"Does he have a name?" Katherine asked later on over cake. She had her new toy in her lap with her napkin half covering him.   
  
Dori nodded, " oh yes. His name is Inu-Yasha." he took a big bite of his cake, and swallowed, " He's a very special doll." he winked, yet again.  
  
Katherine smiled, and lifted up Inu-Yasha from his place on her lap. She smiled, " and look! he has ears!" she exclaimed sweetly, " They're so soft!"  
  
Unseen to Katherine, Inu-Yasha made a face of disgust. 'Does she have to pull on my ears like that? Kagome used to do the same thing to bug me! stop already!' he thought.  
  
Dori saw the dolls face, and smirked, " I think he doesn't like that."  
  
Katherine blinked, and turned the doll to face her. The face was blank again, but the eyes looked different. Maybe Dori was right, perhaps he didn't like his ears being pulled on. She hugged the doll tightly, " He's the most wonderful gift I've ever gotten!" she proclaimed.  
  
Her mother looked to her grandparents with a smile. Maybe this gift would keep her satiated until she had to start school.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
That night, Katherine put Inu-Yasha on her desk, and stretched in her chair. Her grand mother had brought all of her gift up earlier, and left them on her bed while they played cards downstairs.   
  
It was only then that Inu-Yasha noticed that the girl was still sitting down. All the time.  
  
When she rolled away from him, he realized that she was in a wheelchair. when Dori had said that she was in bad health, he hadn't been joking around, though from the way she acted, it seemed that other than this, Katherine was fine.   
  
"Dori-san always knows just the right things to send when I'm sad." Katherine said out loud to herself, " And you, Inu-Yasha, are just perfect..." she turned her chair around so that she wasn't facing him, but a long set of bookshelves that reached around the bedroom. She pulled out a book, and turned the chair back around.   
  
she rolled back to her desk, and eyed him over, " You're perfect." she repeated, and then sighed, resting the book she had on the desk. Katherine opened the book, and began to read, to herself, and not out loud. Needless to say, standing on his feet for hours and hours was tiring even for the half demon.   
  
Katherine stopped reading at last, and looked at the doll. She picked him up, and put him in her lap, " Do you like stories?" she asked, setting him down so that he was sitting now.   
  
'Well at least that's more comfortable.' Inu-Yasha thought with an inaudible sigh.  
  
" I love stories," continued Katherine, " I like to pretend that I can be a part of them. Sometimes I pretend that I can walk and dance like the princesses do." There was a hint of emotion in this that Inu-Yasha didn't miss, " I like to pretend that the faerie tales are real. and one day, I get to be the heroine, and rescue someone.." she continued on, but Inu-Yasha didn't listen to it. He was in his own little world. Something he had learned to do a long time ago.  
  
He was back in the Feudal Era, with Kagome, sitting near the river, talking. She had leaned against him. He had held her. She didn't know back then how he felt, but he did. Oh how he did, too.  
  
A sudden jolt brought him back to the real world, "I don't want to go to school." Katherine said. He hadn't noticed that she had started to cry, " The people who see me on the street sometimes stare at me, and treat me different... and I know that kids can be worse than that. " her tears were falling on his head.  
  
Katherine hugged the doll close to her stomach, and cried, and cried.  
  
And despite the fact that he really didn't want to be here, Inu-Yasha felt bad for her. He couldn't help but look up at her red face, wet with tears.   
  
"Why do people treat you different?" he asked without thinking.   
  
Katherine stopped crying immediately. She looked down at the doll, who was staring up at her with big gold eyes. Then she jerked, making him fall from her lap and onto the floor, with a thump.   
  
"Good God!" she choked out, wiping her face with the back of her hand, " you spoke!"  
  
Inu-Yasha stood up, and brushed himself off, happy to be able to move again. "You could have not thrown me on the floor." he said shortly, " and of course I spoke. didn't you hear Dori when he told you that I was special?" He looked a little bit peeved as he climbed back up into the wheelchair with Katherine.  
  
She stared at him, wide green brown eyes watched his every move as he sat back down in her lap, cross-legged. "Why do people treat you different?" he repeated the question.  
  
Katherine wiped her eyes again, and took a deep breath, " Because I can't walk."  
  
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment, and nodded, " so? Why do they treat you any different? Can't you take care of yourself?"   
  
'For a doll who just met me..' Katherine thought, 'He sure is.. arrogant.' the word sounded wrong for the moment, but seemed to describe the doll perfectly.  
  
"Take care of myself?" she repeated the last half of the question out loud and thought for a moment, " I don't know. I mean, like, I can feed myself and stuff like that. I get around pretty well, even by myself, like transferring and stuff.. But like, I need help with little stuff sometimes, like getting in and out of doors that are not automatic."  
  
Inu-Yasha looked up at her for a moment, and frowned, " So yes, you can pretty much take care of yourself. So why do they treat you differently?"  
  
Katherine frowned, and pursed her lips together tightly. " Because.. sometimes.." she took a deep breath, trying to think of the right words to describe what her mother had said once, " Sometimes the sight of a wheelchair makes people squirm. It forces them to remember that not everyone was born... normal.." the last word sounded heavy, and a little bit sad, but Inu-Yasha got the point.   
  
" I see. So people treat you different because they are intimidated by something different." he said flatly, " That seems kind of dumb."  
  
the younger girl nodded, " I guess so." she hesitated, " Though I don't see what's so intimidating about a wheelchair." she rocked her chair back and forth, making her little doll sway a little bit in her lap.   
  
Inu-Yasha had to admit that the young girl was right. There was really nothing intimidating about her. As a matter of fact, if she had lived in his time, she would have been demon fodder in a heartbeat. He probably would have killed her himself, as a matter of fact.   
  
Of course, that was hundreds of years, and a few less curses ago. right now, even though he didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, he felt pity for the young thing. Unfortunately, the more they talked the more that he knew he didn't want to tell her that he felt sorry for her. She said very quickly that she hated the way people pitied her for how she was born when she had grown used to it over her years.  
  
There was a knock on the door. " Katherine?" her mother peered in without waiting for her daughter to answer back, " I heard you talking when I came by. Are you alright?"  
  
Inu-Yasha fell limp in the girls lap, having to play doll again. He really hated that. However, if the conversation that followed was any more proof that the girl hated the way she was treated, he needed no more.   
  
"I'm ok mother. I was just reading out loud to Inu-Yasha." she said sweetly, holding up the book she had taken down by herself earlier.  
  
Her mother came over, and picked Inu-Yasha up by the middle, and putting him on the girls desk.. Upside down unfortunately. "Che." he hissed quietly.   
  
The mother turned and looked at the doll funny, and shuddered, " Katherine, he really is a creepy looking doll... Are you sure you want him left in here with you? You might get nightmares."  
  
'I'm not THAT kind of demon, Stupid woman!' Inu-Yasha thought bitterly.   
  
"I think he's terribly handsome, momma." Katherine protested, wheeling herself over, and putting Inu-Yasha up -the right way- against a stack of books, " and aren't his ears just so adorable?"  
  
Her mother made a sound that Inu-Yasha was certain might have been something to disguise a swear word that he had heard his son use once, " Honey..." she stopped, and looked at the doll warily, " I just don't think that it is.. wise.. for a young girl to have a doll modeled after a legendary half demon..."  
  
This seemed to bring the girls eyes wide, and grab her interest much more than simply a talking doll, " Demon, momma?"  
  
the mother bit her tongue visibly, " don't worry about it, Honey, it's just a legend.. and a boring one at that."  
  
Inu-Yasha wanted to say something very demonic, right then, right there, but he knew that he needed to keep his presence known to only minimal people. Boring? He and Kagome had had a very un-boring adventure, for her information, and just as his better half got his worse under control, the mother grabbed him up, and looked him over.   
  
"I know that Dori-san meant well, Katherine.. but I don't think that this.. gift.. is appropriate for a young girl growing up in such a world where childish things like these are shunned." Katherine's mother said honestly. She looked at her daughter, still young looking, even for her age, and sighed gently, Katherine... I thought that you would have learned years ago.. It's time to let go of fairy tales, and grow up."   
  
Katherine looked honestly hurt by her mothers words. she was only a child after all, and to let go of childish things, meant that she had to be something other than herself. Had she not done everything that her mother and grandparents had wanted her to do since she had been confined -no imprisoned- in this wheelchair?  
  
"Momma.."  
  
Her mother sighed again, and sat the doll back down, " It's ok to be feeling how you must be feeling. To be reading to a doll, Darling, is a sure sign that you are lonely. I'm sure that you will make many new friends when you go to school."  
  
This got nothing but silence from the brow haired child. she hung her head, willing, for the moment, to endure her mothers lectures. She wouldn't tell her mother that Inu-Yasha was alive, and had spoken to her. Just as she wouldn't tell Inu-Yasha that he was the first person to talk to her, one on one in a very, very long time (other than Family).   
  
"It's time for bed now, Katherine." her mother said softly, putting Inu-Yasha back on the girls desk, " come, now.. Let's get you into bed."  
  
" I can do it myself." Katherine said firmly.   
  
Her mother gave her a stern look. " Now." she repeated, and motioned for the girl to come to the bed.   
  
Katherine sighed, and did as her mother told her, allowing the woman to help her undress, and transfer herself into the bed. As her mother drew the covers up to her cheeks -she kissed each one in turn-, she closed her eyes and bowed her head, and began to pray.  
  
Katherine recited the prayer with her mother, as she had done since she was old enough to remember it, and then shut her eyes, like the good child that she was.  
  
"Mother?" she asked when she was finished, " May I please have my new doll?"  
  
Her mother sighed, " I don't think you would want to break him, would you?" she asked, ruffling her daughters hair, " I'll put him away for tonight, up here on the shelf, and in the morning, you can ask Gramma to get him down for you, alright?" she asked.  
  
Katherine didn't reply, but sighed, and nodded her head.  
  
On her way out the door, Mother put Inu-Yasha up on the top shelf of the bookcase, on his side. She shut the door, and the hallway light flickered off as her footsteps faded down the hallway.  
  
"She always shuts the door." whispered Katherine, " I hate it when she does that."  
  
"Feh." Inu-Yasha muttered, " she's a little paranoid."  
  
there was a long silence. Inu-Yasha knew that Katherine wasn't asleep. He could hear her breathing. It was still shallow, and awake.   
  
"Inu-Yasha? Was what Momma said true?"  
  
the Doll thought for a moment, " Which part?"  
  
"about.. the demon." Katherine had obviously hesitated.   
  
"Che. Half demon." Inu-Yasha reminded her, " and yes. That story is true."  
  
another silence.  
  
"So are you modeled after him?"  
  
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment about whether or not it would be wise to tell this girl the truth or not. He didn't like the thought of lying. He never did. But there was no harm in avoiding the truth. "I think your mother is paranoid." he repeated, " What's the deal with her not letting you get into bed yourself? Are you really so weak?"  
  
He hadn't intended it to come off as cold and heartless, but the question certainly came out that way.  
  
Katherine's breath became fast for a moment, a sharp intake as though she had been hurt, but then she answered, in a calm voice, " My legs just don't work, Inu-Yasha." she said carefully, " And I can transfer myself.. but.. as you said yourself. Momma is paranoid. She just doesn't want me to fall and break a bone or something." she failed to mention that she had done this to herself more than one time and this was partially why her mother was SO paranoid.  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded in the dark. He knew that she wasn't able to see him, despite the pale moonlight coming in from the window. But he could see her. The moon was waning. Soon, there would be the problem of his curse to deal with. But right now wasn't the time to think about that.  
  
He'd be powerless in two days, minimum. But how would he explain his presence with her then? Inu-Yasha shook his head. First he had to tell her what would happen.   
  
He would do that in the morning, he decided.   
  
For nearly and hour there was silence, and yet, the little girl was still awake. Inu-Yasha was a little bit surprised. Most children her age would fall asleep pretty quickly after being put to bed, but not her.  
  
"why are you still awake?" he demanded in a firm but gentle voice.  
  
Katherine didn't say anything. She must have thought that if she was silent that he would think she were asleep. However, the half demon was not so easily fooled.  
  
"Hey. I know you can hear me."  
  
Katherine opened her eyes, and then shut them again tightly, and took a deep breath. She held it for a moment, and then let it out slowly. But again, said nothing.   
  
Inu-Yasha arched an eyebrow. Why wasn't she answering him? He frowned, and watched her for a long time. But in a short while, the girl was really asleep. He was a little bit grateful, himself. He rested against the books on the shelf, and fell asleep. At least in his dreams he was able to escape.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: Wheeee. more IYNess.. I'm sorry got all you KAgome fans out there, and NO this is not a falling in love with Inu-YAsha and marrying him thing.. ew.. no. He's already been married to Kagome and has his own kid.. I like IY with Kagome. That's just my fave pairing. ~Kat 


	3. In the Park, With the Girl

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Three: In The Park, with the Girl  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The morning came without abandon. Birds sang, the sun was shining, the world was awake, and When Inu-Yasha awoke, Katherine was still asleep. He stretched from his place up on the shelf, and sighed.   
  
He looked down on his sleeping child, and blinked. What was he thinking? She wasn't HIS child! Inu-Yasha shook his head, and rubbed his face. 'It's all the stress from recently.' he thought. stress indeed. He missed his son already.   
  
Leaning against the books behind him, Inu-Yasha wondered just what was wrong with this girl that her legs wouldn't work for her anymore. There was a lot missing from this picture that he couldn't put together.  
  
For instance: where was Katherine's father? He hadn't seen any siblings, so he assumed that she was an only child. Or maybe her siblings didn't live at home anymore. Kagome had once told him that Souta moved away from home when he turned 17 to live with friends of his.   
  
Maybe this girl had older siblings who simply didn't live at home.   
  
she shifted a little bit in her sleep. This broke Inu-Yasha's concentration, and brought his attention to her. why had Dori been so adamant about him being with her?   
  
He sighed. Maybe she would be the one who would release him from this damned curse. though he seriously doubted it. Kagome probably could have countered it... But she was long gone, and there was no use in thinking about it now.   
  
He stood up, and climbed down from the bookshelf, and moved his way to the floor. Once there, he leapt across the room in bounds that were not unusual for him. He leapt up onto her bed in a perfect flip that would have made any Olympic finalist proud.   
  
This woke Katherine with a start, and she pushed herself up in her bed with her arms. Katherine blinked away the sleep that still remained in her eyes, and yawned a little bit, before thinking about looking for what had woken her up.   
  
Inu-Yasha sat on the bed, watching her for a few moments, and then smirked, " about time your woke up. The sun has been up for ages."   
  
His sudden voice startled the girl, who jerked when she saw him. " oh!" she trembled, and then took a deep breath, " I thought it was a dream for a moment.. you scared me." Katherine picked up Inu-Yasha, and held him out in front of her, " you really are alive." she whispered in wonder.  
  
" che! put me down!" Inu-Yasha protested, squirming a little bit. He didn't want to use violence against the girl.  
  
Blushing deeply, Katherine put Inu-Yasha down on the bedcovers, and made a face ," You aren't very polite." she said softly, " If I ever talked that way to my mother, I think that she would ground me forever."  
  
Snorting, Inu-Yasha straightened out his clothes, " Then I would suggest not taking up my bad habits and talking to her politely."   
  
Katherine pushed the bedcovers off of herself, and reached down, and took a hold of one of her legs. She pulled it across the bed, and used the rest of her body weight to bring herself up on the side of the bed.  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " What are you doing?" he demanded.  
  
Katherine laughed a little bit, " I'm getting up, silly." she said, " It's not that big of a deal, you know." she reached for her wheelchair, and pulled it over to the bed in front of her. She leaned over and pushed the brake handles down so that it wouldn't move while she was moving herself.  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned. "I thought your mother didn't want you to do that on your own." he said.   
  
Katherine looked at him in an odd way, " I told you last night that I can do these things on my own. If I don't, then I wont be able to take care of myself at all when I get older." She made a sound that sounded an awful lot like Inu-Yasha's " feh." and then pulled herself upwards using her wheelchair as a brace.   
  
she drew in a quick breath, and took two more while she was up, balancing herself with her arms between her bed and her chair.   
  
'Proud little thing, isn't she?' Inu-Yasha thought with a smirk. He noticed that her arms were trembling from her own body weight. Moving herself like this couldn't be very easy.  
  
With a flop and an exhale of breath, Katherine put herself in her wheelchair, and leaned over to take the brakes off. She smiled, shaky, but proud of herself. "It's not that hard." she said with a grin, " I told you I could do it."  
  
"You know," Inu-Yasha said, moving to the edge of the bed, " If you wouldn't lock your arms, it would be easier to hold up your weight while turning." he sat down and watched her for a moment, " And I didn't have any doubts that you couldn't move yourself. I was just under the impression that your mother didn't want you to do it."  
  
"Did you do everything your mother told you to?" Katherine retorted in a somewhat overly polite tone.   
  
Inu-Yasha didn't answer this. It wasn't a subject that he thought he wanted to talk about with a child.   
  
That, and he didn't know how she would react if he told her that he was that dangerous half-demon that her mother had told her about the night before. From the prayers he'd heard the night before, he'd assumed that they were probably not Buddhist, and as such, he couldn't be sure of what would happen if he said anything.  
  
However, there was still the problem about the night of the new moon.   
  
" Listen, Katherine.." he started. The girl was sitting in front of a chest of drawers, pulling out a dress, and socks, and he turned his head so that he wouldn't be able to see her get dressed. there was just something about watching a little kid get dressed that didn't shuttle well in his mind.   
  
"Don't peek." the girl said cheerily, as she slipped her nightgown up over her head.   
  
Inu-Yasha's ears pricked as he listened to the shuffle of fabric against the girl, " Che. I wouldn't look. I'm not a pedophile. " he snorted, " Listen, Katherine.. tomorrow night is the night of the new moon, and there's something you need to know-" he was cut off by the sound of a knock at the door. He fell over on the bed, inanimate, once again.   
  
"Katherine!" her mother practically shouted, " What have I told you?!" she demanded, moving over to her half dressed daughter, " You do this to me every morning!? why is it that you wont just wait for me to come in and help you?" Inu-Yasha heard the woman move over to Katherine, and the shuffle of fabric.  
  
"Mother.. momma..." Katherine whined as her mother set about doing her matronly duty of helping her daughter dress, " Momma. I can do this myself, why can't you just let me? I'll never be able to if you don't." She sighed, " are you .. MOMMA!" she yelped bitterly as her mother began to button the front of her dress.  
  
Her mother stopped and looked at her, " You are a young woman, and should, as such, be able to tolerate some things better than others. I'm your mother, honey, I have a right to be like this."  
  
Katherine sighed in defeat again, and let her mother have her way, doing as she was told. When she was completely dressed, her mother looked over at her bed and blinked, " How did you get here?" she muttered, picking up the half demon from the bed. she examined him, and looked at Katherine, " Katherine.. you didn't get him down by your shelf did you?" she demanded.  
  
Katherine shook her head, " No momma.. I.. "  
  
Inu-Yasha was staring at her with wide eyes, mentally begging her not to tell her mother that he was alive. The last thing he needed was to be thrown into a fire. OR worse.  
  
"He fell, and I picked him up. Why did you put him up on such a high shelf?" Katherine wheeled herself over to her mother, and took the doll from her. "I don't want him broken." She did wonder, though, just how Inu-Yasha got down from the top shelf to her bed.   
  
Mother nodded blankly, " alright then.." she muttered, " alright.. come on, let's go to the park. The day is beautiful, and the trees are shady." She took a hold of the back of her daughters wheelchair, and wheeled her out into the main part of the house.   
  
Inu-Yasha had a lot of time to think as the Girl and her Grandmother, and mother went outside for a walk in the park. The mother was certainly a strange one. Inu-Yasha pondered the recent events over and over in his mind, and listened to the mother talk with the grandmother.   
  
Katherine said little of nothing, but clutched a book to her chest with one arm, and kept her hand near Inu-Yasha, in case he fell. she was certain that he would not fall, but it was just easier for her mother to believe that she was keeping a hold of him so that he wouldn't.  
  
there were a lot of children at the park that morning. Children playing on swings that Katherine knew that she would never be able to ride again. Sliding down slides to be caught by loving parents and aunts or uncles. Inu-Yasha could smell and emotion that he had only smelt once before, with his son, after Kagome had passed on into the next world.   
  
He glanced up at her when he was sure that no one was looking, and sure enough, her brown green eyes were full of a sadness that only a child without a parent could feel. And the fact that she was not able to get around like other children, seemed to make it even stronger. He hated to admit it, but he felt sorry for her.  
  
Her mother finally let go of her wheelchair, and the girl pushed herself up higher and higher into the park, until she was sitting at the very top of the hill that it was located on, under a rather large tree. Her mother and Grandmother were still down on the benches nearer to the other children, and for the most part, they were now alone.  
  
Katherine opened her book, and began to read, silently this time. Inu-Yasha looked up at her, " Katherine.. Look, I was trying to tell you earlier.. There's this problem that we're going to have come tomorrow night."  
  
Katherine nodded form behind the book, " Yeah, it's the new moon, I think you said that."  
  
"che! listen! Dori told you I was a special doll, remember?" Inu-Yasha yanked at the bottom of her book. Katherine was surprised at the strength behind his tugging, and let the book drop, " Come the new moon, I'll be human until sunrise." he said, fumbling the heavy thing in his lap. It was much to large for a doll his size.   
  
Right now, Inu-Yasha might have been 18 or 19 inches high, but the next night, his size would be almost 4 times that. It would not be easy to explain this to the girls mother, should she find out, and if he didn't tell her now, while they were alone, she'd probably freak out.  
  
Katherine blinked, " human?" she frowned a little bit, " I don't think I understand."  
  
Just then a few children, maybe a little bit older than Katherine came running up to her. They stared for a moment, and then one of them made their way up to her. The girl was about 5 foot or so, with dark chestnut hair, and brown eyes. She blushed, and smoothed out her pants, and then looked back at her two giggling friends.  
  
"we were wondering.." she started, hesitantly.  
  
Katherine's heart rate jumped about 10 bpm. She knew what was coming. It wasn't the first time that this had happened to her, and she knew it wouldn't be the last. However, she wished with all her heart that Inu-Yasha wasn't here to see and hear what was about to happen.  
  
'there's going to be trouble,' thought the doll, with an inward frown, 'These girls are about to try and cause trouble.'  
  
" we were wondering if you wanted to play a game of soccer with us." the girl finished with a slight giggle. Her hair fell into her freckled face.   
  
Katherine blushed. she hung her head, and closed her eyes, fearing that she might try and cry. "no.. thank you." she responded as politely and strongly as she could.  
  
Inu-Yasha felt a small pang of hurt with the girl, but also, a large amount of defensiveness. It wasn't fair to do that to someone who could do nothing in return, to defend themselves. Well, no, that wasn't really right. Katherine, if she had wished it, could have easily given a comeback that would have made the chestnut haired girl blush and fall back.  
  
However, the girls all giggled together in their little group, and walked off without another word.  
  
"That was probably one of the rudest things I've ever heard or seen from people..." Inu-Yasha started, out loud, but Katherine shook he head, blushing, " they don't mean it." she mumbled softly, " If they were in my place, they would understand that it hurts.. so they don't mean it, because they don't understand." She was trembling, inside and out.  
  
she wanted to cry. She wanted to sob, and scream, and act like a child. Throw a temper tantrum, and stones at her tormentors. Katherine knew that it would not help to do any such thing, and forced her being to take several deep breaths, and force herself to stop shaking as though she were cold.   
  
"don't understand? what they just did was wrong, Katherine." Inu-Yasha said bitterly. He knew better than to toss such stones into a glass house. He himself had been like that at one time, though he would never admit it to anyone. He had never even ever admitted it to Kagome.  
  
" anyway.. what were you saying about the new moon?" Katherine changed the subject quickly.   
  
Inu-Yasha sighed, and tried, again, to tell her what the problem was, but just as he opened his mouth to tell her, her mother came up to them.   
  
"I thought you were going to stay at the bottom of the hill with your grandmother and I?" she asked gently. She didn't look down at the doll in the girls lap. It was already established that she didn't like it.  
  
Katherine hesitated, " mother.. I like this tree. It's warm." she said gently.   
  
Her mother made a confused face, " That doesn't make any sense, Katherine. The tree is not 'warm'. Inviting, maybe?"  
  
Katherine sighed. Her mother would never understand, " no, Momma. Warm. the tree is warm."  
  
"Yes, darling, I know." her mother humored her, and smiled weakly, " so, are you going to come and join your gramma and I?"  
  
Katherine shook her head, " Not today, momma."  
  
Her mother looked hurt, and wondered if this was because of the night before when she had reprimanded the girl for having a doll that looked like a legendary half-demon. Hanyou. She shuddered inwardly at the thought, and sighed softly, " Alright then. You be careful. What did those girls want?"  
  
'so she saw those girls, and did nothing.' Inu-Yasha thought bitterly, 'If I had ever seen someone do to my kid what those girls just did to hers, I'd have-' his thought was interrupted by Katherine picking him up by the sides, " they liked my doll." she lied.  
  
'What the hell is she saying?'  
  
the mother arched an eyebrow, " Is that all?" she asked, " well then.. alright... I'll come back up for you in a half hour."  
  
for a long moment, the two remained silent. (Inu-yasha and Katherine). The sky began to cloud up a little bit, and Inu-Yasha wrinkled his nose, " It smells like rain." he muttered, in an almost whisper.   
  
Katherine said nothing, and took a deep breath. she pushed herself down the hill, to her mother and gramma, and said absolutely nothing.  
  
That night, Inu-Yasha tried to warn her another four times, but each time he tried to warn her, there was another interruption. He learned a lot that day.  
  
Katherine was an only child. Her father had left her mother. Her mother had left her with her aunt. Her mother had died. 'Momma' was her aunt, but she had lived with her ever since she was 14 months old, and knew her by no other name. Her grandfather entertained her ideas of reality and fantasy while her grandmother and 'mother' tried to ground her to earth.  
  
She had hundreds of books. Far to many for a child her age.  
  
"do you know where your father lives?" Inu-Yasha asked at one point.  
  
Katherine looked at him in a strange way, and then smirked, " no. Grandfather once told me that he had something of more importance to take care of... And just left one day."  
  
'what's more important that your child?' Inu-Yasha thought.  
  
"Do you know who your mother was?"  
  
Again, Katherine looked at him in the strange manner, but hung her head, " no. Momma never told me her name."  
  
"and this is all the family you have left?" he asked.   
  
Katherine took a deep breath, and let it out noisily, " Do you ask so many questions all the time?" she asked bitterly, "Yes. This is my family. This is all of us that are left."  
  
The half demon had felt as though this was probably as far as he should go with questions about her family. Instead he turned his interest to her more personal life.   
  
"Do you have many friends?"  
  
"We already went through this. No. I don't. What's with the impaling of questions?" Katherine snapped. It seemed unlike her to do such a thing, but Inu-Yasha felt as though he might have been touching a few too many nerves.  
  
He hesitated, going over words in his mind, " I was just.. wondering.. I mean, we're going to be together for a while yet, right? we might as well get to know each other."  
  
Katherine looked strange for a moment, and then turned to him, stony faced, " Inu-Yasha," she said his name coldly, " Just how did you become alive anyhow?" She probably thought that this was a question that he would be defensive about, and that was why she was so cool about it.  
  
However, despite this thought, he shrugged, " I crossed the wrong person one day." he said simply, " and made her pretty mad .So she turned me into a doll."  
  
Katherine frowned, " huh? so you were a real person once?" she picked it up immediately.   
  
Ears twitching uncomfortably, Inu-Yasha nodded, " Something like that."  
  
"something like that? what kind of answer is that?"  
  
Still feeling as though telling her what he really was would be wrong, Inu-Yasha skipped around the truth, and simply said, "After my wife died, I kind of did too." that wasn't a lie. That was actually more of a truth than the half demon thing, to him, "Anyway, I made a bad remark to an old woman one day, and she cursed me." he shook his little head, making his silver hair fall in his face and over his shoulders.  
  
Katherine nodded, thinking that she understood this idea, and blinked, pursing her lips, "So.. did she just turn you into a doll, or is there a way to break the curse?" she asked coolly.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: YAY! I finally got around to telling about the curse! go me! ~Kat 


	4. the truth about the Curse

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter four: The truth about this Curse  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
the woman glared at him, from above, "You will be like this, halfling, until the end of your days." she snorted, " It'll teach you not to be quite as cruel, wont it?"  
  
"what?! you bitch!" Inu-Yasha cried form where he stood, " Is there any way at all to get past this?" he demanded, not expecting an answer.  
  
The woman looked at him with a smirk, "Of course there is. There's a way to break every curse, right? that's the balance of good and evil."  
  
" Tell me!" he demanded, making a stance to attack her, for all the god it might have done.  
  
She smiled, and leaned down over him. she smiled with her toothless way, and made another snort, " you have to have a daughter."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
'And exactly WHO is going to consummate with a DOLL?' Inu-Yasha thought bitterly. Honestly, the prices for some curses were just too much. Of course, there was the one night a month that he was human, but to have a daughter meant that he had to be married.. and just what woman in her right mind was going to have him only one night a month?  
  
So he had settled Just to live the rest of his life out as a doll.  
  
" I have to have a daughter." he muttered bitterly.  
  
Katherine thought about it, " Maybe your my dad then?" she joked softly.  
  
He snorted, " I doubt it, kiddo. I would have smelt the pregnancy on my wife before she even knew it herself. Not to mention I would never think anything is more important than my little girl." he made a face, " not to mention that if you were, I would obviously not be a doll right now."  
  
Now this was the honest to God truth, and Katherine shrugged a little bit, " I suppose. I was just trying to help." she sighed a little bit, and put her hand up to her cheek, leaning on her elbow, propped up on her wheelchair.  
  
She looked tired. Inu-Yasha thought for a moment, "It was nice of you to help, but there's no help for me now. " he sighed a little bit, and frowned at the knock on the door. He was just about to warn the girl about the next night too!   
  
"Katherine?" her grandfather came in with a smile on his face, and Katherine smiled brightly for him, " Reading to Inu-Yasha are you?" he asked gently.  
  
Katherine nodded, and held the doll up for her grandfather to inspect, " he likes the stories I read, Grampa, But he says that I need to find better stories for my age." she said honestly.  
  
Her grandfather smiled, thinking that she was just playing make-believe, " I'm sure he's right in some ways. Do you think that, Katherine?" he asked.  
  
She smiled weakly, " no grampa."  
  
" It's time for bed." he said, " your mother told me that she had already put you in your nightgown, so I thought I would tuck you in tonight."  
  
Katherine smiled. Her grandfather was the only one in the family who would let her transfer herself as she saw fit. He was pretty much just in there in case she fell down.   
  
Katherine went through the same routine she had that morning, bringing herself to the side of the bed, and making certain that the brakes were on. She tried not to lock her arms like Inu-Yasha had told her, and put herself in bed. She wasn't shaking quite as bad when she did, and smiled with pride when her grandfather told her how proud he was of her.  
  
He smiled down at his grand daughter, and pulled the covers up to her chin, " There we are. And I suppose that you would like Inu-Yasha tonight?" he queried.  
  
Katherine put out her arms for her new friend, and her grandfather set the doll up on the top of the covers, comfortably. "There we are." he said in a satisfied tone, " Are you comfortable?"   
  
Katherine nodded again, " Yes, thank you grampa." she reached up for her nightly hug from the old man, and he obliged, hugging his granddaughter tightly.   
  
Grandfather looked at Inu-Yasha, " I'm sure he'll make sure you have no nightmares."  
  
Katherine blushed a little bit, hoping that she had not had any the night before. she didn't want Inu-Yasha to know that she had nightmares about not being able to walk.   
  
"Goodnight grandfather." she whispered into the darkness.  
  
He shut the door gently with a click, and there was a long silence.  
  
Unlike the night before, tonight, Katherine fell asleep almost instantly.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Short chapter. Sorry about that. Although I'm sure nobody really cares lol. ~Kat 


	5. Dreaming, Dreaming

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Five: Dreaming, Dreaming  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
There were some days that Inu-Yasha knew that he had not dreamed the night before, and others when he wasn't sure what was reality and was what a dream. Or the left over of a dream.  
  
When he awoke, the sunshine from the day before was gone, covered now with clouds that looked as though they were going to pour rain any moment. For a moment, he thought he smelled a familiar scent. Something that he had only smelt back in his time, the feudal era, but he shook himself awake, and realized that he was only picking up Katherine's scent. He sat up, and looked down at the young girl, still asleep in her bed.  
  
she looked so peaceful in her sleep, but there was something about the uneasiness of her breathing, that told Inu-Yasha that she was probably having bad dreams of some sort.   
  
  
  
"I'm sure he'll make sure you have no nightmares."   
  
Her grandfathers voice echoed in his head, and he moved up to the girls shoulder. She scrunched up her face, and he put his hand against her cheek. It was warm. Inu-Yasha frowned. 'Is she sick? she seemed fine yesterday.' he thought.  
  
She moaned in her sleep softly, and shuddered, all the way through her body, or at least, to her hips. She groaned, and moved her arms over herself in a protective sort of way.  
  
"Hey.." he murmured to himself, " Easy there." he put his hand back up on her cheek, and rubbed it gently, making sure that his little sharp claws didn't scratch her. His ears twitched when she mumbled a word in her dream.   
  
"...help.."  
  
Feeling a sort of bad energy coming from the room, Inu-Yasha felt himself on guard for the first time in a very long time. It wasn't unusual for a demon to come in the form of a dream, but he hadn't felt this kind of presence since he and Kagome had been searching for the shards of the Shikkon no Tama. It was strong.   
  
'If it's a nightmare demon, then it's been feeding off her dreams for a long time to be this powerful.' he thought, suddenly feeling tense all over, 'And if it IS a nightmare demon, I can't really do anything to help her.' he didn't like feeling so helpless. He hated feeling so weak.  
  
He held the young girls cheek with his hand for a long while, until he thought her so hot that he couldn't stand it anymore, it was so hot! he leaned forward, and in the girls ear, he whispered the following words:  
  
"Katherine.." he hesitated, " Katherine, it's me, Inu-Yasha.. I want you to listen to me. Can you hear my voice? If you can hear my voice, I want you to listen, and do what I tell you to."  
  
the girls breathing slowed a little bit, but it was still irregular. she must have heard his voice. Katherine made a soft sound in the back of her throat, and whimpered softly.  
  
" It's ok. I'm right here. " Inu-Yasha assured her gently. His son had once had a problem with nightmares, but his father had quickly taken care of it. It should have been no different for the young girl, " I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Is that what's wrong? Is there something there that's going to hurt you?"  
  
Once again, there were no audible words, but a soft sound from the girls throat, and the erratic heartbeat and breathing. Obviously, he had struck the nail head on.   
  
"Listen to me, I'm right here.."  
  
The girls breathing became harsher.  
  
" No. calm down. It's ok. Che, didn't you hear me? I'm not going to let anything hurt you." He sat cross-legged, next to her shoulder, his arms tucked into his sleeves as he spoke to her, and walked her through her nightmares, "Can you see me?" he whispered, " I'm here, beside you. Why are you looking down? I'm taller than you are! I'm not a doll right now." he made a soft sound, and sighed softly, " Now listen to me, do you see this sword? This is Tetsuigua."  
  
The girl seemed a little bit calmer now, and so Inu-Yasha continued, " Just point me in the direction of the bastard trying to hurt you, an' I'll make swift work of him." He couldn't see into her dreams, and so he really had no idea what she was seeing, but he was hoping that the trick that had worked for his son would work on her as well.   
  
The concept was pretty simple, all he had to do is mold her dream to what he was saying, and sooner or later, the defense would become a trigger when bad things happened in dreams. All it took was something that would be easy to remember. That way, Kagome had explained, "When the bad thing happens, they can think about, or concentrate on a word, or a place, or person or thing, and it triggers a defense that allows them to defeat the bad dream." Kagome may not have known it, or may not have said anything about knowing it, if she did, but Inu-Yasha had used this very trick on her in the past. It worked very well. The only time it didn't work was when Kagome had been under so much stress that only him holding her, and coddling her in her sleep would do the trick.   
  
Katherine's heartbeat jumped about ten beats, and she trembled again. "..no!.." she whispered.  
  
Inu-Yasha was surprised by the force and panic in the girls soft voice, " Hey. Easy there. What did I tell you? That's right, I told you that no one here was going to hurt you, and I don't lie. Now, you stand right here, and just let me handle this bastard."  
  
There was a long silence, and finally, after about five minutes, Katherine's breathing and heart rate went back down. the unease he had felt in the room not to long before paled a little bit, But her cheeks were still red-hot, and Inu-Yasha didn't like that. It was obviously not caused by the nightmare, or at least, that was what he figured. She must have actually been sick.  
  
Half an hour later, Katherine was still not awake, and her face was sweating from the heat that it was putting off. Inu-Yasha was already worried when her mother came in to get her up, and the pale look on her face made him feel a small wedge of panic.   
  
"oh no." she managed in a choked voice, " not again.." she put her hand on the girls face, who moaned softly in her sleep, "Katherine.. Katherine, honey.. wake up.." she shook the girl gently.   
  
Katherine's eyes opened a crack, " Momma?" she sounded tired still, even though she had slept the whole night through, " I feel wrong all over." she mumbled, and shut her eyes again.  
  
'Wrong? Is she saying that she's sick?' Inu-Yasha wondered.  
  
"Mother!" the woman shouted, " mother! Call the doctor!" she rushed out of the room, and Inu-Yasha turned his face to look at the girl. She looked about sick, indeed, and her heartbeat was a bit faster than earlier, but he didn't know if that was because she was sick, or because her mother had woken her.   
  
"Katherine." he said softly, " Are you awake?"  
  
she grunted softly, " Inu-Yasha." she whispered softly, " I don't feel good."  
  
He nodded, " I see that. What's wrong?"  
  
She didn't reply in time, as her mother came back into the room with her grandfather, and they took the bed sheets off of her. Her nightgown, Inu-Yasha had not noticed, was soaked with sweat. He could smell it now, though, and he knew immediately that she was very sick.   
  
the mother and Grandfather put the young girl into her wheelchair, gently, and covered her up again, without bothering with her nightgown.   
  
they left Inu-Yasha on the bed, wondering and worried about the young girl.   
  
  
  
'what if she died? What if she's so sick that she can't come back home? What if... what if...' the words ran over in his head over and over and over again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
After what seemed like forever, The bedroom door opened again. The sky outside was darkened, but not quite night yet. Inu-Yasha would be human tonight, and if Katherine came back home tonight, her family would be certain to check in on her every hour or so, if they didn't stay in her room all night. He had to think of some way to get away form this.  
  
Grandfather wheeling her into the room, Katherine was in her chair, and looking at least a little bit better than she had before. However, she looked tired and weak, and still a little bit red in the cheeks.   
  
" Your mother will be in to check on you in a little while, child." he said gently, " You'll be ok in the chair until then?" he asked, trying not to sound as though he was forcing her to do anything against her will, " If not, I'll get her now, and we can put you in the bed now."  
  
" I'll be alright, Grampa." Katherine said in a wispy tone, " Really. I promise. I've been laying down all day. I'll be fine." she assured him in a tired tone.  
  
He nodded, and looked to her desk, " you know to call us if you need help."  
  
she nodded, " Thank you grampa."  
  
He left the room with nary another sound, and cracked the door behind him.   
  
Inu-Yasha looked at the girl, worry and concern in his gold eyes, " Are you alright?" he asked. He could still smell the sickness on her, along with the smell of a hospital. He'd never forget that smell. Kagome had gone there to give birth, and it was something that he would never forget. Ever.  
  
Katherine smiled weakly, only a shadow of how she had been the two days before. "I'm going to be fine. It's just being sick. Happens to everyone."  
  
'she acts as though she just has a cold!' Inu-Yasha thought in shock, 'when she reeks of something that I've never smelled before!' " Not everyone goes to the hospital for being 'just sick', you know." he said.  
  
" I'll be fine. It happens sometimes." Katherine assured him gently as she could.  
  
Still not reassured by this, or quite believing, Inu-Yasha nodded, " alright then. Would you tell me if something was wrong?"  
  
Katherine shook her head, and blinked her eyes as though she just then came awake, " Inu-Yasha? How did you know I'd been to the hospital. Did I tell you and forget?" she whispered.  
  
Inu-Yasha shook his head, " no. I can smell it on you."  
  
"Smells awful huh?" she asked, her voice growing weaker, " I'm so tired from the medicine that they gave me." she admitted, letting her head droop against her will, " I'm going to get into bed.." she mumbled in a barely audible tone.   
  
Inu-Yasha's eyes widened, " no, I don't think that's a good idea, Katherine." he said firmly, " Actually, I think that's a VERY bad idea. You should stay in your chair until your mother comes to help you into bed."   
  
The brown haired girl made a sound that Inu-Yasha didn't recognize, and wheeled herself about halfway over to her bed. She was shaking all over, and could not manage to get herself the rest of the way over.   
  
"I just want to go to bed." she mumbled. Her words got jumbled up on the way out, though, and it was more or less not understandable.   
  
"Katherine.. Stay where you are" Inu-Yasha said in a strong tone, " your mother will be in soon to put you to bed." he jumped from the bed to the floor, to the girls lap, quickly, " So stay right here in your chair until then."  
  
Katherine didn't argue. She sat very still for a long time, breathing slowly, and shallowly, " Inu-Yasha?" she whispered.  
  
" Hai?"  
  
Katherine didn't know what the word Hai meant, but she went on anyhow, " You were in my dream." she whispered softly.   
  
He smiled to himself, and sat in her lap, cross-legged like always, "What was the dream about?"  
  
Katherine didn't say anything for a moment, and Inu-Yasha thought that maybe she had gone back to sleep, " I dreamed that you came and saved me from the man with white hair. "  
  
Inu-Yasha didn't think anything about the description, and nodded, though mostly to himself, " did I?"  
  
" you were very brave."  
  
If Katherine had her eyes open, she might have seen Inu-Yasha blush, and puff up a little bit in the chest, " oh?"  
  
"thank you." she whispered.  
  
The light outside was becoming dimmer and dimmer by the moment, and Inu-Yasha knew that if her mother didn't come and help her to bed soon, he'd be human, and gods only knew what consequences that would have.   
  
Fortunately, her mother wasn't too long in coming, and she helped her daughter to bed quickly and without much parade. Katherine was asleep already, but once she was laid down and comfortable, She seemed to go even deeper into her sub conscious.  
  
Her Mother sighed softly, and gave the girl a kiss on the forehead. " I'll come and check on you in an hour." she whispered, " and see how you're doing."  
  
Sleeping already, Katherine didn't move or say anything in response.  
  
Not even ten minutes after her mother left the room, Inu-Yasha, who had been tossed up on the desk, felt the strangeness of the new moon work over him. He moved off the desk as fast as he could, and just as he hit the floor, he felt himself growing back to his 'normal' size, as his demon powers fell from him. His hair became black, and his claws shrank back into normal hands.   
  
He sighed, and looked at himself, " I really hate this." he muttered, and sat down on the edge of Katherine's bed. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully.   
  
He brushed some of her hair from her face, and smiled at her gently, "You'll be ok." he said, " I'm right here, and I'll watch over you while you sleep."   
  
He was growing awfully attached to this little human girl.   
  
Stretching out his muscles, and grunting a little bit as he did so, Inu-Yasha settled in for a long night of watching over the young girl, and listening out for her mother, should she return.  
  
He thought back to a time long past when He and Kagome would sit on this night in the Feudal Era and talk for hours. Of course, there was time long before that, when he and she would only speak to each other if they were arguing. He sighed softly, and scratched a human ear with his finger.  
  
He was amazed at just how much larger he was than Katherine. Originally, he had thought that perhaps he would have only been a little taller than she. She might have been about Kagome's size, or an inch or so shorter, but now he knew that she was much shorter than Kagome.   
  
He wondered, briefly, if it was because of her age, or because of her inability to use her legs. 'She's so small.' he thought, 'like a baby.' he shook his head and pursed his lips. 'she's not a baby, but a child, and a mature child at that.'  
  
He sighed, and rocked back and forth for a while. He heard footsteps in the hallway, and quickly made himself scarce by hiding in the young girls closet.   
  
Her mother had come in to make sure that the girl was comfortable, and still sleeping. She checked her pulse, and her temperature, and then left the room again, yawning softly. Inu-Yasha watched her through the slats of the closet door. when she was gone again, he came back out, and noted to himself that the bedroom door was now completely shut.  
  
'She must have gone to bed herself.' he thought, and nodded, as he sat back down next to Katherine.  
  
The long night wore on, slowly, and silently. At some point just not to long before Dawn, Katherine whimpered in her sleep, and Inu-Yasha stroked her cheek gently.   
  
"It's alright, kid.. I'm here." he whispered softly, and her whimpering died down almost instantly. She opened her eyes a little bit, barely awake, but conscious enough to know that the person sitting next to her was not her doll, her mother or her grandparents.  
  
" who are you?" she whispered, shaking.  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled, " I kept trying to tell you.. When the new moon comes, I become human." he whispered back, " It's just me. go back to sleep."  
  
The girl stared at him for a moment, her eyes widening only a little bit. "Inu-Yasha?" she said, " You're.. different."   
  
"Che. I'm human. go back to sleep so that you can get well." Inu-Yasha put his hand on her shoulder, " now, sleep."  
  
Katherine nodded, and shut her eyes. she went back to sleep.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: Ok, so Katherines a bit of a wuss.. but hey that's life. We can't all be perfect. And besides. It gets fixed later on. ^_^ ~Kat 


	6. Explaining to do

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Six: Explaining to Do.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
when dawn came the next day, Inu-Yasha was no longer human, but doll again. He sat on Katherine's bed, watching her. Her fever had gone down in the night, and just as quickly as it had come, it seemed that the sickness was gone again. He smiled weakly, and shut his eyes, leaning back on his knees.   
  
Katherine awoke a bit suddenly that morning, her eyes snapping open as though she had just awoken from a nightmare. She looked around, seemingly helpless for a moment. However, when she spotted Inu-Yasha, she smiled weakly, and reached for him with her right arm. She put him on her stomach, and watched him for a long while. He was awake, but he didn't open his eyes or move. He just wanted to see what she was going to do.  
  
She smiled, and breathed deeply, " Inu-Yasha. You have been playing with my dreams." she whispered with a cute tone, " You keep coming to my rescue. Silly Inu-Yasha. Nobody else does that." she patted his head, and sighed gently.   
  
There were no sounds in the house from her room, but Inu-Yasha could smell the enticing scent of breakfast drifting up to his nostrils. He was kind of glad that he didn't have to eat as often, as a doll. Though on the nights he was human, he sometimes had to suffer through being hungry.   
  
Once he was back to his Doll shelf, though, he was alright. For awhile. Soon he would be forced to ask Katherine if she could sneak him some food. Probably today would be a good idea, that way he could just get it out of the way.  
  
Katherine left him on her stomach, slumped over on his side, and said nothing for a long time. Then she sighed deeply, and her breathing went back to slow and peaceful. Inu-Yasha smiled a little bit to himself. He'd only done one night's worth of manipulating her dreams, and already she felt as though he would protect her.   
  
It made him secretly proud.  
  
He hadn't felt as though he were useful in a long time, and to know that he had helped this girl, even in her dreams, was a secret boost on his ego.   
  
He sat up on her stomach, and watched her, his gold eyes glimmering in the morning light from the window. He hadn't noticed before now that the curtains were a heavy material that barely let in the light.   
  
He wondered, not for the first time, what was wrong with this young girl. She seemed to shine so bright when she was alone, but when she was around the other people of the world, her light hid behind curtains that were so much thicker and heavier than the ones over her windows.   
  
'Is it because she hasn't got any of her real family left?' Inu-Yasha wondered.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Running through the trees and brush, the wind rushing past his face, Inu-Yasha leapt straight up into the air, relishing the feel of his power working for him on this calm day. He breathed in the scents of the nearest Villages, food and people, plants, and fauna.   
  
It was days like these that he lived for, as he raced towards the Bone Eaters well. Kagome would be here any moment, and that in it's self was enough to make his heart race much more than the simple enjoyment of life, such as this moment.  
  
She was coming out of the well as he came running up towards it. Her backpack wasn't with her this time. Nothing was with her, which was very unusual for the girl. He wondered if something was wrong, and when he smelled the tears on her being he knew there was something wrong. He didn't have to ask when he saw her.   
  
She was panting, and sweating, as though she had just run a marathon.   
  
"Kagome? Kagome?" Inu-Yasha ran up to her, and put his arms around her, " What's wrong? Are you alright?"   
  
Kagome looked up at him, her face wet with her tears, " Oh, Inu-Yasha..." she whispered, " I'm so sorry..." she fell to her knees.   
  
Inu-Yasha fell to the ground with her, and held her as she sobbed, racking her body over and over again with tears, " It all happened so fast." she stammered.   
  
For the first time, Inu-Yasha cold smell something new on Kagome, and the more he smelled it, the less he liked it. she hadn't been back down the well since her first week of High school, and today, things seemed to have gone terribly wrong. His half demon nose could smell the odor of sweat, tears... and Blood. Broken vessels under her skin. Bruises, he was certain. Not that she had never encountered these injuries when she had been hunting for the shards of the Shikkon no Tama, but this seemed different.   
  
'It's pointless that's why it's different.' thought Inu-Yasha, as he comforted the girl, " Who did this?" he demanded, feeling his demonic side and human side both boil together in his blood.   
  
".y..you don't understand.." Kagome whimpered, " He-He.. " she couldn't get the words out.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha woke with a start. He didn't realize that he had dozed off, but There was Katherine in her wheelchair, just as she had been every day before, wearing a plain blue dress that covered her knees. The sleeves were short, but went down to her elbows.   
  
"you're awake." Katherine smiled, " you slept most of the morning away, you know." she put the book she had been reading down, and wheeled over to where he was on her made-up bed. He frowned, " I'm sorry. I don't normally do things like that." he mumbled. 'I was dreaming it again.' he thought sorely, ' always that one dream, that same day...'  
  
"You know, you don't have to apologize to me. If you're sleepy, your sleepy. If anyone here should be apologizing, it should be me. I'm sorry I worried you yesterday." she looked a little bit sheepish, " you see, I get sick like that sometimes. I've been like that since I was little. It's part of the reason that my legs don't work anymore. I should have warned you." she looked down at him on the bed covers. His red outfit was bright against the cream and pale green patterned comforter under him.   
  
Inu-Yasha watched Katherine with his eyes for a long moment, and then nodded, " you're right. You did scare me. But it's alright. you're ok now, and That's what matters, right?"  
  
Katherine, shocked by this response, nodded dumbly. Then she changed the subject, " You didn't tell me that you turned human on the new moon in time for me to know." her tone was flat. She took a deep breath, and continued before he could say anything, " the thing is that.. Well, I kind of knew the story of Inu-Yasha, the half demon who was pinned to the Eternal tree by the Miko." she hesitated, and fumbled with the book in her lap, " I thought.. you know.. That maybe you were just a doll at first, but last night.." she trembled a little bit, "I mean.. what I'm trying to ask is--"  
  
Inu-Yasha looked up at her with sad eyes, " you want to know the truth. That's respectable." he shifted, and stood up on his feet. He then did something very uncharacteristic of himself, and wrung his hands together for a moment before clearing his throat, and shakily saying in a low voice, " I am the Half demon, Inu-Yasha that you know of." he then stood proudly, " and I'm not ashamed of it, either! So if you want to throw me out, at least make sure that you take me back to Dori."   
  
Katherine's face was blank for a moment, her expression one that could not be read, but then she smiled softly, and leaned over, " How did you escape?" she asked.  
  
surprised by this simple question, Inu-Yasha blinked, and stared back at the girl, " Nani?"  
  
"In the story, you were pinned to a tree by the Miko. How did you escape?" Katherine repeated her question.  
  
"I.. I was saved by a young girl." he stammered, uncertain of what was coming.   
  
Katherine thought for a moment, " Were you a doll then?" she asked.  
  
" Che. No! I used to be tall!" Inu-Yasha snorted, " the old woman turned me into a doll many years after that. "  
  
There was a long silence. " why were you... big.. last night?" Katherine couldn't think of a better way to put it.   
  
"Because I'm HALF demon." Inu-Yasha said impatiently, "On the night of the new moon, every month, I become completely human, Because the woman who turned me into a DOLL didn't realize this, and put the curse on me as a half demon. so, On the night of the new moon, I become completely human, and become my normal size again." he explained, " Or at least, that's as close as Dori and I could figure."  
  
Katherine smiled brightly, " You make a very handsome human!" she exclaimed sweetly, and then regained her composure.   
  
"well? aren't you going to get rid of me or something? Your mother would certainly not approve of having a cursed half demon in the house." he snorted.  
  
Katherine giggled, " no silly. I happen to like you." she became serious, " would you intentionally hurt me?" she asked.  
  
"NANI?" Inu-Yasha stared at her as tough she had just grown a second head, " che! no!" he looked a bit put off by this question, " If I was going to do any such thing, I would have done it the first night I was here with you."  
  
"ok. well.. Do you do bad things on purpose?" she asked again.   
  
" I am half human you know." Inu-Yasha muttered bitterly, " IF you're asking if I have a conscious, then yes, I do."  
  
"then I'm not going to throw you out any time soon. you're more than welcome to come and go as you please, as far as I'm concerned." Katherine knew that by wording it this way, she was letting Inu-Yasha have the choice of leaving her, if he so chose, though she had grown rather attached to him.   
  
Inu-Yasha fell back on his rump, and looked up at her in wonder, " you're not scared of me?"  
  
Katherine smiled a little bit, and put her hands over her book, "Well. I'll be honest with you. It kind of scares me that I've been sharing my room with a half demon these past few days, but you seem very different from the demons that I've read about, so no. I don't think so."  
  
"well don't let what those books say fool you. Demons are bad, bad news."  
  
" so are some humans." the girl contradicted, " Believe me, I've seen some, I know."  
  
Inu-Yasha was surprised by this sentiment, and smiled a bit, " you're an interesting girl."  
  
" You're an interesting Half-demon." she cocked her head to one side, and smiled meekly, " Inu-Yasha?"   
  
"Hai?"  
  
"ok, first of all, what does Hai mean? " Katherine asked.  
  
" It means.. yes.."   
  
" ok.. well. um. Can you tell me.. about.. Back then?" Katherine whispered the last part as though it were a secret, " My momma wont let me read things about some cultures, because she thinks that they will have bad effects on my mind until I get older, and I've always wanted to know about History from the east." she confessed ,blushing. It sounded so silly to her, but Inu-Yasha seemed more than willing to help her.  
  
"You mean, the Feudal Era? the time I came from?" He asked, to be certain.  
  
Katherine nodded.  
  
Inu-Yasha was surprised by this simple request, but once again, was more than willing to comply, " Well, you have to understand. I'm half demon, so I live for a VERY long time..." he started, " But when I was a child---"   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Many hours (and two meals) later, Katherine was full of questions about Inu-Yasha's past. She leaned forwards in her chair, and stared at him in amazement. " and all of that is real?" she asked, her brown green eyes open wide as saucers, " All those demons and the Shiko on tema?"  
  
" Shikkon no Tama," Corrected Inu-Yasha, " and yes, it's all true." he smiled vaguely to himself. He felt as though a great weight had been taken off his chest.  
  
" So with this jewel you could become either all demon, or all human?" Katherine thought for only a second before continuing on without an answer, " So why are you not all of either?"   
  
Inu-Yasha frowned to himself, and looked down at the bed where he was sitting, " We found all the shards but one. It was so small that you could have mistaken it for a tiny stone. Not even the size of my claw, as it is now." he held up his hand, and pointed to his index finger." he sighed deeply, " We just never found it. Kagome and I searched for many, many years, and fought many demons, but we never found it."  
  
Katherine thought for a moment, " Do you think you ever will?" she asked.  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, and shook his head, " no. I've been away from Japan for a very long time, and that's where the Bone Eaters Well is."  
  
Katherine became silent for a few moments, mulling over what she had learned in her mind, "What happened to Kagome?" she asked softly.  
  
Inu-Yasha became very sullen, and sighed heavily, " The half demon in me made a big difference between Kagome and I." he said softly, " I've lived for a very long time, even here in this time. When Kagome and I met, she was 15. She passed away about that many years ago, of natural causes. She was in her 80's." He sighed and made a sound in his throat that Katherine could not define.   
  
She sat still for a long time, letting the clock on the wall tick away the minutes, until she finally had an idea, "Inu-Yasha?"  
  
"Hn."  
  
"can we go to Japan?"  
  
This caused an outburst of laughter from the doll on the bed, " right? and how would we do that? first of all, I have no way to get us here, and second of all, even if we did, what would we do? You can't go down the bone eaters well as you are!"  
  
Katherine blushed, " I didn't mean right now." she said sheepishly, " I meant, sometime when I'm older."   
  
Inu-Yasha blinked, surprised, " Oh. Well, I don't know. It depends I suppose. Like I just said, how would we get there, and what would we do once we got there?" He crossed his arms in his sleeves.  
  
Katherine blushed, " I don't know. But now I want to go. It's there. I've always been interested in Japan, but like I said before, my mother thinks that if I study some cultures, they'll corrupt me." she sighed.  
  
Inu-Yasha found himself liking the girls 'mother' less and less. But he didn't tell her that. Katherine obviously had quite a bit of respect for the woman who had taken her in when she was an infant, and called her other as such. There was nothing wrong, or unusual about that.   
  
"don't you think you should listen to your mother for the moment?" he asked.  
  
Katherine shrugged, " It's like I asked you before, did you do everything your mother told you to do?"  
  
"My case is a little bit different." Inu-Yasha said bitterly, "and I'm just trying to help you not get into the wrong side with her."  
  
"You can call her Rudy is you want. that's her real name." Katherine said, " I don't expect you to call her momma like me."   
  
Inu-Yasha seemed a little bit surprised at the fact that Katherine had referred to the woman by her real name, and his ears twitched in thought, " Rudy then."  
  
The sounds of supper being prepared down stairs started at about this time, and Inu-Yasha smiled. Katherine had snuck him up a waffle and some orange juice earlier, he wondered if he could get her to bring him up some of this dinner. It smelled pretty good.  
  
"It smells like momma and gramma are making pork chops." the girl said, as though reading his mind, "If you want some-"  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, "Hai. Arigatou."  
  
Katherine made a face, " I have a lot to learn, yet."  
  
'At least she's willing to learn.' Inu-Yasha thought, 'She's so eager for knowledge.' She was so much like Kagome.  
  
Inu-Yasha shook this thought out of his head, with a few cobwebs that had formed over memories. Kagome had loved learning about the Feudal era, even though she spent a lot of time there. she'd enjoyed the stories that had been long lost in her generation, and had loved, even more, being in the clean times that had existed for so many years before her grandparents had been born.  
  
'Why does she keep coming into my mind?' Inu-Yasha thought sadly, 'If I could have died for her I would have..' But would you have wanted her to suffer like you have all these years? came a little voice in his head. The answer was ultimately no. And Inu-Yasha knew that if there was any justice in the hereafter, that he and Kagome would be together again. This was the only thought that comforted him nowadays.  
  
But now he had someone new to look after. This sweet young girl who seemed to look up to him, despite his differences with herself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: this author says: Why the hell am I posting this? I feel like a total dork. If anyone's actually gotten this far into it, I wrote this after a really strange dream I had. when I was a kid, I had a lot of problems with my body. And the dream went something along the lines of this story. Although, without the ending. ~Kat 


	7. Her Request

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Seven: Her Request  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
September came quickly, and the first day of school crept up on Katherine like a leopard. that morning, she woke up, after a long night of restlessness. Inu-Yasha had assured her the night before that everything would be fine. she'd learned a lot of things from him over the past few weeks. One of them was how to swear, though Inu-Yasha didn't approve of it. He kicked himself mentally when he realized one night that she had picked up this habit from him.  
  
Katherine got herself up again, like she so often did against her mother's wishes. she wheeled to her drawers and fished out a pair of socks. Her new school dress was laying on her desk.   
  
"Just calm down. Your heart is going so fast that it might burst." Inu-Yasha assured her from his place up on the shelf. Her mother had been putting him there at night, and some mornings he was not sure if she would come in before Katherine woke up or not, " I can smell the stress on you."  
  
Katherine shot him a dirty look, " Inu-Yasha." she said, " I'm fine! I swear!"  
  
He gave her the look she gave him back, and snorted, " che. Fine. But if you have a heart attack, don't say I didn't warn you."  
  
Katherine sighed, and made the "che" sound herself before going about her dressing routine. She heard her mother coming down the hallway, and quickly began to brush her hair as the woman came into the room.  
  
"Katherine!" she huffed, " how many times.. oh forget it.. Come here so I can help you get dressed." she motioned to the girl, and started to help her with the buttons on her dress, and her hair.   
  
" Momma, I don't want my hair up like that.. I just want to leave it down. Please?" Katherine pleaded.  
  
"Now, honey," Her mother said as she pulled the girls hair up into braids, " I want you to look nice for your first day of school. you can wear your hair down tomorrow."  
  
Katherine pursed her lips together, and grumbled softly to herself. Fine. But she was going to pull it all down after her mother left the room again.  
  
Inu-Yasha fought the urge to gripe at Rudy for putting Katherine's hair up 'like an old woman's' as Katherine had once said. He rather agreed with the girl when she said she looked better with it down about her shoulders. the dark brown hair wasn't long, but it just barely brushed past her shoulders when it was down, and suited her face well that way.  
  
when her mother left the room, Katherine immediately started to pull out the bobby pins and stuff that her mother had stuck up into her hair. She sighed, " I don't want my hair up. Why cant she just let me be me for a change?" she wondered out loud.  
  
Inu-Yasha looked down at her from where he sat, and shrugged, " I don't know. The hair looks better down though, I agree. And by the way, can I come down now?"  
  
Katherine nodded, and smiled at him, brightly. Her eyes betrayed her smile, though. She was very unhappy. She didn't want to go to this public school, like she had told him a few nights before.   
  
Inu-Yasha leapt down from the bookcase, and strode across the floor, his head up, and proud. " don't show the others that you're scared. Children are like dogs. They can smell fear, and will take advantage of it." He said, as he got up on her desk, and watched her brush her hair.   
  
Katherine nodded, " alright. I'll try."  
  
Inu-Yasha remembered the first day that he and Kagome had sent Dori off to school. He'd been scared too, but had taken his fathers words to heart. He showed no fear to anyone, and he managed through school just fine.  
  
Inu-Yasha shook his head no, " No. You will not try, you will do it. I have faith in you, Katherine." He said firmly.  
  
Katherine stopped brushing, and looked at him oddly. "I see." She put down her brush, and glanced in the mirror over her desk at her reflection, then took a deep breath, an let it out again slowly.  
  
" now. Smile." Inu-Yasha said in his most fatherly voice.  
  
Katherine blushed, and smiled weakly.   
  
" oh come on. I can see right through you. You're like a little mouse." He said, " smile proudly, like no one can touch you."  
  
Katherine blushed, and hung her head.   
  
Inu-Yasha felt as though he had done something wrong for a moment, and then jumped into her lap. "If you put on a mask that makes people think that you will not be brought down by anything, they will back off." He said, " there is no reason for you not to be proud. You're intelligent, and witty, and even pretty." He sat down on her lap and looked up at her red face, " now. Smile." He commanded.  
  
Katherine sighed, and smiled the best she could for the moment.  
  
Inu-Yasha thought, and then shook his head, " ok. Don't smile." He said.   
  
Katherine laughed. Inu-Yasha smiled to himself. That had done the trick.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
the first thing that Katherine had noticed when she came off the small bus for handicapped children, was the fact that most of the people around here were running, laughing, standing and talking, moving. On their own volition, and not of a wheelchair.  
  
the day would be a long one indeed. And it would try hard the brave smile that she put on her face as her dear friend had told her to.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
the day was indeed, very long, and the longer it went, the more Inu-Yasha began to worry about Katherine. 'Just how long does a school last anyhow?' he thought bitterly.  
  
At about noon-time, her mother came into the room, and made up her bed, and picked up Katherine's dirty clothes. She paused when she saw Inu-Yasha on the girls desk, and frowned. "If it had been anyone but Dori-san.." she muttered to herself, and picked up Inu-Yasha, and set him back up on the bed, where it seemed he belonged for the moment.  
  
When she left, shutting to door behind her, Inu-Yasha sighed, and pulled his legs up cross-legged, and sighed. HE hoped that she was doing well.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Unfortunately, Katherine's day was not going nearly as well as she and Inu-Yasha had hoped. There had been some stares and snickers from the people in her class, particularly a few girls that seemed to ignore Katherine pretty well. That is, Until lunchtime.  
  
The lunch cafeteria was crowded, and noisy, something that Made Katherine a little bit Anxious. She trembled inwardly, and tried to keep her brave smile, reminding herself that she could keep people from making fun of her, and noticing her difference if she just pretended like she was brave.  
  
Unfortunately, her brave smile was see through. Almost instantly, there was a problem with a boy in front of her. He smirked down at her, when she politely asked him if he would move aside so that she cold get through the passage to the table that she could eat at.   
  
"I'm out of the way as much as I can possibly go." he smirked at her, " you got a problem with it?"  
  
the truth was that they guy was standing right in the middle of the walkway, but choosing not to start a fight, Katherine backed her wheelchair up. she backed right into a girl that she didn't recognize from any of the classes she had been in thus far. " I'm very sorry." she managed softly.  
  
The girl snorted, " You just ran over my Foot!" she glared, " do you think that just because you're in a wheelchair that you can go wherever you want? I don't think so!"   
  
Katherine cringed, and the people around her seemed to feed off the fact that she was scared like they would have bread and water.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
when the door opened, Inu-Yasha smiled, and knew that it was Katherine. He knew her scent now, and expected it to be just her that came in the room. but the small, frail looking creature that came in couldn't have been Katherine, no matte how much she smelled like her.  
  
Inu-Yasha crinkled his nose, and frowned angrily, " you had trouble." he said flatly, " What happened."  
  
"nothing." Katherine said meekly. she took a deep breath, and moved her book bag from her lap to her desk, and turned on the desk light.  
  
Inu-Yasha stared at the girl with his gold eyes for a moment, and then frowned, and leapt up onto her desk, in his inhuman way. He crouched there for a moment, unsure of what to think. He frowned deeper, and glared, " What happened?"  
  
Katherine sighed, and pulled several large books out of her book bag, " I had a problem, that's all. It's taken care of though. Nothing to worry about, I assure you."  
  
" you're lying. I can smell it."  
  
"Che, whatever." she was being a bit colder than he had ever seen before.  
  
"you got into a fight."  
  
Katherine slammed her books down in a pile next to Inu-Yasha and glowered at him, " If you can call what took place a fight. It was really more of a mauling." she hissed. she was purposely keeping her voice down low.  
  
Inu-Yasha blinked, and frowned again, feeling his blood boil. "What happened?"  
  
" I tread in the wrong place, that's all." Katherine said in a sigh, " And all hell broke loose. by the way, I wont be coming home this early again." she glanced up at the clock, it read 1:49, " I shouldn't be coming home until about 4:00." she muttered bitterly, and opened a notebook full of lined paper.  
  
" Why are you home early?" Inu-Yasha asked.  
  
" didn't I just say all hell broke loose?" Katherine snapped, " I got into a fight. I got the shit kicked out of me." It was the first time that Inu-Yasha had heard her use a western swear word from his vocabulary in her own.  
  
Inu-Yasha rocked back onto his feet, making him flat footed for the moment, until he would sit in a place cross-legged, and talk things out with Katherine. He glared into space, and frowned, " Did they take advantage of you?" he asked.  
  
Katherine stared at him, her face completely white in shock, " WHAT?!" she yelped, not understanding what he meant.  
  
" Did they take advantage of you? Did they use your lack of ability in their advantage?" he repeated, trying to make it sound a bit more sensible, and less.. awkward.  
  
" oh." Katherine was obviously relieved, even if only by the clarification. She was silent as she opened a book labeled 'Pre-Algebra 2' and turned it to a page full of problems. " Kind of." she muttered as she started to copy problems down onto the notebook paper.  
  
"What do you mean by kind of?"  
  
Katherine groaned, and sighed again, " Look. It's hard for people not to try and take advantage of someone who cannot walk, alright? It means that the person cannot escape nearly as easily. And it's not as though I can just run them over with my wheelchair. Things just don't work that way. they just pulled my hair and stuff like that. One of them kicked my weaker leg, and it hurt like hell." she blurted, " I thought they'd broken it, and screamed at the top of my lungs, which seemed to startle the bigger of the two girls. But the guy just snickered, and smacked me over the head with his lunch tray. To make a long story short, It was a total disaster." she said, and put her head down on her desk, and mumbled out the rest of the story in a muffled fashion.  
  
Inu-Yasha listened to the girl talk about the days events, and frowned to himself. 'I knew something was going to happen, but I thought for certain that she would have been safe.' he thought, 'If only I were back in my normal form. I'd give every one of those kids something to fear.' he growled in the back of his throat, and it did not go un-missed by Katherine.  
  
" are you alright?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with the fleshy part of her palms.   
  
Inu-Yasha snorted, " che. If I were my normal size, I'd show them better than to pick on someone who couldn't fight back." he snapped coldly, " It's not a fair fight to take on someone who cannot match your own skills."   
  
Katherine sighed softly, and turned her attention to her Pre-Algebra Homework, " It's alright." she said softly, " I don't think it'll happen again."   
  
Inu-Yasha didn't share her outlook on things. Not this time, anyhow. He frowned to himself, and allowed his thoughts to wander to his son, who had passed away only two weeks before. Things seemed like they were only getting worse.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Before either of them knew it, Finals were at hand. Katherine had not been right, and Inu-Yasha knew it. She had been picked on almost every day by the same bullies over and over again from what Inu-Yasha understood. But, it had gotten to the point now, that Katherine never said anything about it.   
  
But there were days when she came home at 4:00, and looked pale and sickly. Inu-Yasha overheard her mother and grandfather talking about her loss of appetite one afternoon in the hallway. She was going to make herself sick again if they didn't watch her close enough.  
  
However, it also seemed that being around these people had served a greater purpose after all. Katherine was starting to excel in her schoolwork, and the fresh air that had been forced by countless recesses and gym classes that she sat in, was working in favor of her health.  
  
If only she would eat again.  
  
Inu-Yasha watched the snow fall outside of Katherine's window. He was watching for her to come home. Today was the last day of the 'Finals' that she had been so stressed out over for the past month. However, Christmas Break was here, and today, Inu-Yasha knew that Katherine would get back the results of all but 2 of her finals. She had studied her hardest ever for them.  
  
The yellow bus that picked her up every morning, and home every night finally came up in front of the house, and Inu-Yasha smiled. Her black wheelchair and her deep green dress and coat were a deep contrast to the sparkling white snow that fell gently. she wheeled herself up the walkway of the house.   
  
Katherine looked up at her bedroom window and smiled at Inu-Yasha, who waved back at her. He was glad to see her smile. This break from school would be just the thing she needed to become herself again. He was certain of it.  
  
That afternoon, she threw her school bag in a corner of her bedroom, and wheeled over to her bed. She looked down at Inu-Yasha with a solemn look, and pursed her lips as though she were debating something in her mind.  
  
" Katherine?" he asked. He sniffed the air, breathing in the strange smells of a young girls room, potpourri and cotton, and clean sheets. And today, there was the smell of a fight. She'd gotten into another fight, and on the last day of school before the holidays, too.  
  
Katherine frowned, and looked down at her lap, where her hands were folded, " Inu-Yasha?" she asked, in a meek tone, "can I ask you something. I want you to answer me honestly."  
  
Inu-Yasha, feeling the seriousness of her question nodded.  
  
"Will you help me learn how to walk again?"  
  
the question was heavy, and hung in the air for a long time. Inu-Yasha stared at her as though he hadn't just heard what he did. "Katherine?"  
  
"Please?" she pleaded, " help me learn how to walk again. I know that the new moon is coming. we can start then. No one has to know but us, I swear." she begged, never once lifting her eyes to meet his.   
  
Inu-Yasha felt the urgency in the girls voice, and didn't know what to say. "Katherine... I don't know if I can teach you how to walk again. " he said honestly.  
  
Lifting her eyes, and pleading, Katherine begged him to teach her how to walk again. It was all she wanted was to learn how to walk again, and all she wanted was to be able to take care of herself. But she needed someone to help her, and urge her on.   
  
" what about Rudy?"  
  
" what about her? She doesn't care if I'm in this chair till the day I die." Katherine said in a passion, " Rudy gets money from Grampa so long as I live with her." It was the first time that Inu-Yasha had ever heard the girl call "momma" by her real name.  
  
Inu-Yasha didn't know this bit of information, and for a moment, he wasn't sure how he felt about it, " Katherine... Are you sure?"  
  
"I overheard her talking about it with a man once." she said trembling.   
  
She was telling the truth, as far as Inu-Yasha could tell, or at least thought that she was telling the truth.  
  
He moved closer to the girl, and put his hand over hers, feeling her heart race under his claws, and the heat of her passionate pleading emanating from her. He nodded, " I'll help as much as I can, Katherine." he said firmly, " but tonight, you need rest."  
  
Katherine nodded, and sighed softly, her pleading over now. she was still trembling.   
  
Unfortunately, Inu-Yasha had no idea how he was going to help Katherine walk again.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
authors note: bleh blah blah.. LOL. Nothing to say here. ~Kat 


	8. The New moon, and the Broken Curse

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
chapter Eight: The New Moon, and the Broken Curse  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The night of the new moon came faster than anticipated, ad Inu-Yasha felt the human part of him emerge from the curse like a rose from the thorns. Katherine stared in surprise. She had never seen him change before, and this was a shock.   
  
She was shaking when it happened, and was uncertain of what was happening until Inu-Yasha stood up, shaking himself. He felt weak and uncomfortable in this form, but he was also kind of glad that he was tall again. He looked down at Katherine who smiled meekly at him. she blushed.   
  
"So I'm just going to tell them that I'm your tutor." he said slowly, and carefully.   
  
Katherine nodded, " Are you sure that you can make it to the front door without getting hurt?" she asked.   
  
Inu-Yasha snickered, " Before my wife and I got married, I used to sneak into her room because her grandfather didn't care for me much. she lived in a two story house, and I managed that just fine." he smirked, " This should be a cakewalk."  
  
Katherine nodded, and wheeled over to the window. Inu-Yasha took her wheelchair, shocking the young girl, and moved her to the window himself. He let her open it, and grinned, " See you in a few."   
  
Without a word of warning or otherwise, Inu-Yasha jumped out of the window, hitting the soft snow under it with a "crunch." he smiled back at her, and patted her windowsill with his hand, and then walked away.  
  
Katherine shut her window, and sighed gently, straightening her hair and dress. Her mother was not going to be very happy with this guy who was obviously not her own age. She would have had better luck if she would have told Inu-Yasha to tell her mother that he was a babysitter looking for work. That would have gotten her attention. Or something. she gritted her teeth, and blushed softly. 'Well,' she thought, 'IF worse comes to worse, she'll tell him to get lost.' she thought.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha fiddled with the front of his clothes. They were ancient to him, but he was sure that these people wouldn't really notice. After all, a lot of kids, he had noticed recently, wore things that might have been pretty similar to his own clothing. Of course, they might not have been dressed in all red, but.. He shook his head, letting his black hair fall over his shoulders, and then back onto his back. Then he knocked on the door.  
  
The man that opened the door looked like the Haki-san that he had met ages ago, but obviously the old man didn't recognize him as the doll that he had 'Purchased' from Dori. He smiled a little bit, after adjusting his glasses, " you must be the tutor that Katherine told us about. " he glanced over Inu-Yasha's clothing, and nodded, " She did mention that you would be dressed in a remarkable manner. "  
  
Inu-Yasha felt his face grow flushed, " ah.. yes.." he managed to stammer.  
  
"come in! come in! It's cold out, I'm sure you've noticed. " the grandfather let Inu-Yasha in without another thought, and smiled to himself, "I'm sure that it surprised you when Katherine asked you to come on the holidays. It was very kind of you to do so. She does love school." he went on and on, but Inu-Yasha pretty much ignored him, other than to grunt a reply now and again.  
  
"this is her room." Katherine was sitting at her desk when her grandfather opened the door, " Katherine.. Your tutor is here.. ah.. what was your name? I don't believe I caught it." he chuckled, " I'm sorry about that."  
  
"Oh.. ah.." Inu-Yasha looked at Katherine for help. thankfully Grandfather was pretty blind these days, and really didn't notice.  
  
"Grampa. are you torturing erm.. Yasha?" she asked, blushing, " I'm so sorry about that. Grampa has such a short memory." she smiled at her grandfather. He obviously didn't miss this, because he leaned over and gave the girl a hug. "Your mother will be up in a little while to check on you." he whispered in the girls ear. Obviously he thought that if he told the boy about her mother, he would have run like hell.  
  
Katherine nodded, " thanks grampa." she whispered back, and hugged him extra hard.  
  
once he was gone, and the door was shut, Katherine sighed. she looked at Inu-Yasha, and blushed again. That night would be the first on many hard ones again, and both seemed to realize this. But nothing was going to prepare them for what was to come.  
  
the first thing that Katherine did was heft herself up shakily. She'd been shaking more recently than she had in the time that Inu-Yasha had known her.   
  
Inu-Yasha moved in front of her, and put his hands out for her to use as handholds.   
  
When Katherine reached out for him, She stumbled, and he caught her quickly. He carefully held up the girl, and encouraged her to concentrate on her knees. "don't lock them." he warned, " if you do that, then you'll pass out, and that's the last thing that we need right now." he said gently.  
  
And that was the beginning of their training together.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine's legs slowly became stronger, until finally, months and months later, she was able to stand up on her own, though she could not walk anywhere. She was able to balance her weight without holding onto anything, and Inu-Yasha felt a swell of pride rise in his chest. She was doing so well, and with his help too.   
  
Spring came with the first miracle that Katherine had known since she met Inu-Yasha, she was able to make her first two steps since she was four with a little bit of help from Inu-Yasha when he was human, or with her weight balanced on her desk when he wasn't.   
  
the two of them had quietly celebrated that night with soft cheers. Unfortunately, she could take no more than two steps like this, and these fatigued her terribly. She fell to the floor the first time, Inu-Yasha cradling her before she hit the ground. He smiled down at her. "I'm so proud of you." he whispered, and hugged her gently.  
  
There was a certain love in his voice, but Katherine knew by now that he did not love her the way he had loved his wife, but perhaps in the way that a brother loved a sister.   
  
Katherine smiled so softly that Inu-Yasha felt as though he had just seen a bit of heaven that he hadn't ever seen before. Not even when he had been with Kagome and Kikyo. It was so strange. It was like the heaven that had experienced when Dori was born.  
  
His eyes widened when he realized that. He almost dropped Katherine when he did though, and quickly laid her down on her bed. He trembled all over, and blushed deeply. He shook his head, and brushed off the feeling.  
  
Katherine smiled up at him from her place on the bed, " That was so awesome!" she gushed, " can I try it again?"  
  
Inu-Yasha shook his head no, " no. I think it would be better for you to lay down now, and get some rest. You've been working hard all night, and now it's time for bed."  
  
Katherine frowned, " Inu-Yasha." she began.  
  
" no if ands or buts, young lady." he said in his most fatherly tone, " It's bedtime. Your mother thought you went to bed earlier, and if she comes up now and see 's you still awake..."  
  
" as if she wouldn't freak out because my tutor was still here at 3 in the morning?" Katherine retorted.  
  
Inu-Yasha smirked. Yeah, well. things just work that way sometimes, he figured, " che. I'd hide." he snorted, kind of as an after thought.  
  
Katherine nodded, and sighed deeply, her heart still pounding form the thrilling experience of just walking. It was amazing how such a simple task could be so incredible!   
  
and Inu-Yasha felt as though he had witnessed the first steps of a child, and that in itself was a wonderful thought and experience. Somehow, he felt as though he had stolen this moment away from Rudy, and be that as it may, he was still happy. He was secretly happy that it was he, and not her, who had helped Katherine to take her steps into freedom.  
  
Katherine fell asleep, much later that night, and Inu-Yasha secretly thanked the Gods that her mother had stopped coming in at a set time every morning to wake her up. He smiled gently, and sat next to her bed, on the floor, listening to her sleep.  
  
to his surprise, this night, of all nights, was the one that she had the nightmares from. He stared at her as she slept. It was still dark outside, and so he was still human. But she whimpered, and jerked her hand in her sleep. He watched her suffer in her sleep for a few minutes to make sure that it was not simply a passing thing, but when this whimpering and groaning in her sleep went on for almost a half hour, Inu-Yasha could take no more.  
  
'It's bad enough that people are hurting her at school, but I can't take them hurting her in her sleep too.' he thought angrily, as he slipped his hand over the girls arm. "shhh. Calm down." he whispered.  
  
The young girl didn't calm down by any means. Her panic grew, and with every bit that it grew, Inu-Yasha could sense that darkness that he had felt the first night he had manipulated her dreams. He didn't question how he knew it was there, but he simply did.  
  
"Katherine." he said firmly, " Katherine, what's wrong?" he waited for a moment, as though he would hear an answer, and then continued, " I'm right here with you Katherine, see?" he squeezed her arm gently, " I'm here."  
  
"..no!" Katherine cried in her sleep, " no! stop... please." her face was flushed red, and her mouth was twisted into a painful form.  
  
Inu-Yasha felt his heart break when she cried out, and got up into the girls bed. even though he didn't have his demon strength, he was still pretty strong for a human. He cradled the girl in his arms, and pulled her onto his lap. She trembled in his grasp, and whimpered softly.  
  
"Katherine, it's me, Inu-Yasha.." he assured her, " I'm right here, and nothing's going to harm you so long as I'm here." he said strongly, " I defeated the strongest of demons once, and I can defeat anything and anyone here that's trying to hurt you too."  
  
Katherine calmed for a moment, and curled her upper body against him.   
  
"that's right.. just calm down.." he cooed. But he could still sense that darkness that had been there before. He didn't know what it was, but the more he felt it, the more familiar that it felt. He wished with all his might that he were still half-demon in this form, with the powers and strength that went with it, but he knew that if anything attacked right now, he'd be all but helpless.  
  
Inu-Yasha felt strangely tired at about this point, and no matter how much he tried to force himself to stay awake, he ended up falling asleep against his will.   
  
  
  
  
  
He wasn't in Katherine's room anymore. He was standing in a familiar place. The rice fields to the left of him were familiar. He knew in an instant he was in Feudal Japan. but there was something wrong with this picture. He was standing before a picture that he could not touch.  
  
Naraku was standing over Katherine, his baboons skin shed, and his human form in the open. It was grotesquely deformed, and he looked as though he had decayed and then been burned.   
  
Katherine was crying, " please, get away from me!"  
  
" Give me what I want then, and you can go back home to your precious era..." he hissed, towering over the girl who was on her knees.   
  
"I don't know what you want!" Katherine shouted, in tears, " Go away, please! I've done nothing to you!"  
  
Naraku chuckled, " do you really not know? can you really not feel that power which lives inside of you?" he demanded, " how can the last shard of the Shikkon no Tama reside in your body you little pathetic weakling?" he peered over her with half lidded eyes.   
  
Katherine whimpered, and shielded herself with nothing but her arms against the attack that Naraku flailed on her. The cold burning flames made the girl scream in terror, and Inu-Yasha could do nothing to stop it.  
  
"give it to me!"  
  
Inu-Yasha stared in Horror, and felt the powers of his demon self rush back to him in a powerful wave that he was unable to curb. " LEAVE HER ALONE!" he cried out, unsheathing the Tetsuigua for the first time in nearly 60 years. It transformed, and he weighed it in his hand.  
  
Naraku obviously heard him now, and turned to face the half demon, Inu-Yasha, once again.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, " this dream is not yours, but hers."  
  
Inu-Yasha felt like his old self again, and smirked, " Che. Bastard. It doesn't matter who's dream this is. you're about to get your ass kicked."   
  
Katherine stared at Inu-Yasha, her face red from tears and dappled with burns from the dreamed attack. "Inu-Yasha!" she called, " you came!"  
  
Inu-Yasha didn't reply to the girls happiness, but concentrated on nothing but Naraku, " you're dead." he spat.  
  
"I wont be for long." Naraku smirked, " this girl with the last jewel shard.. She is going to bring me back. and then I am going to go and find the rest of the jewel."  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " I think you've made a fatal mistake. Katherine cannot have the shard you are looking for. She's a human child. This mistake will be your undoing." he charged towards Naraku, the blade of the Tetsuigua ready to cut the dream demon in two.  
  
But Inu-Yasha went right through Naraku, and kept stumbling towards Katherine. he shoved the blade into the ground, and stopped himself along with the weapon right before they reached the girl. Katherine screamed.  
  
Inu-Yasha stared at her, and then looked for Naraku. He was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"I couldn't have killed him." Inu-Yasha muttered to himself, and pulled the ancient sword out of the ground. He sniffed the air for a scent of the demon, but found none, and so, re-sheathed it. Then he crouched down to Katherine's height, and looked her over.   
  
" how did this happen?" he demanded.  
  
Katherine sniffled, and shook her head, " I don't know. I've had the same dream for a long time. It stopped for a while, because I would call out for you, and you'd come, and he'd leave.. but.. but.. this time.. this time.." the girl was unable to make out the words, " this time.." she stammered again.  
  
Inu-Yasha stared at her in shock, " then you realize that this is a dream?" he demanded, scooping the girl up in his arms.  
  
Katherine nodded, "he just said it was." she said softly, " and I know that if it is a dream, I should be awake now.. but I can't be awake or asleep, so I don't know what I am.." she put her arms around his neck.  
  
Inu-Yasha listened to her talk for a few moments, and then stood up straight. "Did you know about the last chard before I told you?"  
  
Katherine shook her head no, " no. this is the first time he's asked for what he's wanted by name." she said honestly.  
  
"Do you know his name?"  
  
" no." Katherine said again.  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded. 'How am I here? how am I here in a dream that is not my own, but Katherine's?' he wondered to himself, as he leapt up into a tree, with the girl in his arms.   
  
Katherine yelped in shock, and clung to Inu-Yasha tightly. He smiled at her reassuringly, and ruffled her hair with one hand once they were sitting on a branch, " don't worry, kid. I'm not going to drop you."  
  
He took a deep breath. The air was indeed that of his home time and place, but nothing felt as though it had changed at all since he had left. The worst thought to come though, hit him now. 'If she is carrying the jewel..' he thought, 'the last shard of the Shikkon no Tama..' he hesitated, 'I can't just kill her like she were a demon. I couldn't do something like that to Katherine. She's a child. an innocent, kind, loving child.' And he couldn't help but think, 'And she's my child now. so that means nobody is going to hurt her ever again.'  
  
Oh, if only he had known the consequences of what he had just thought to himself!   
  
When Inu-Yasha awoke the next morning, it was to screams of a woman. He groaned mentally, and opened one eye. Unfortunately, in the next moment, he wished he had opened both eyes, so that he could have dodged the broom that whacked him in the side of the head.   
  
"Itai!" he yelped out bitterly.   
  
"You let go of my daughter right NOW!" screamed the woman again.   
  
"Nani?" Inu-Yasha felt now, the unfamiliar weight of a person on his lap. Katherine was stirring from the screams of her mother, " Wha.. What's going on?" she mumbled, still half asleep.  
  
Inu-Yasha glared at the woman in front of him, "She's not your daughter, Lady." he snapped, " Last I heard, you were biologically her aunt."  
  
the woman stared, and screamed again, Swinging the broom back at him, and catching the tip of his ear. His ear? Inu-Yasha twitched his dog ears, and blinked in surprised. 'this isn't the time to be wondering about such things! She's swinging a broom at you like you're the common household feline!' he thought.  
  
Katherine opened both eyes at the shouting and screaming and talking. " Momma?"  
  
"Katherine! you stay right there, I'll get rid of this.. this.."  
  
Inu-Yasha growled, his anger rising at a rate he was hardly able to control, " Che! like you should be calling names, woman?" he demanded, before she could manage to spit out a word to describe him.  
  
Katherine started to sit up, and just as she did, Rudy swung the broom at Inu-Yasha again. The woman should have played for a baseball team, Honestly! Inu-Yasha stared at her with eyes wide open as the broom brushed against his arm, and grazed over his chest, towards Katherine's face and...  
  
Crack! The broom broke, and fell to the floor. Inu-Yasha had Katherine on his back in a half blink of an eye. "you would hit your own daughter?" he demanded, making the last word sound like a swear. He was hitting nerves with this woman that he had never gotten with Kagome.   
  
Rudy stared at the tall man before her, and backed up a step, " don't you dare..." she stammered shakily, " don't you dare take her away from me!" She was trembling all over, but Inu-Yasha could only smell a slight bit of honesty coming from her when she professed her love for her adopted daughter.   
  
Katherine stared with wide eyes as the events folded out in front of her like a gross play, " Momma! Inu-Yasha! stop! please!" she pleaded.  
  
Rudy stared at Katherine in shock, " Wh- this.. this.. THING.. is that doll? " she looked from Inu-Yasha to Katherine, " and you knew? You knew this?! you knew what he was?!" she was shouting now.  
  
"Momma, it doesn't matter now.. It's ok. He won't hurt anyone.." Katherine tried to comfort the woman, but Rudy would hear none of it, " Momma.. please..."  
  
" don't call me that!" the woman screamed before them, " don't call me your mother! no child of mine would have anything to do with demons! You're damned! damned I tell you!" she screamed, throwing the broom handle that was left at Inu-Yasha. He dodged it easily, and glared down at the woman. "Don't you talk to her like that." he growled.   
  
"g.. g.." the woman was so furious that she couldn't get the words out of her mouth.   
  
But it was alright, because Inu-Yasha already knew what to do. He grabbed Katherine's blanket, and wrapped it around the two of them, and then looked at the girl over his shoulder. " there's no turning back." he whispered.  
  
Katherine buried her face in his shoulder, " Go." she sobbed.  
  
In a lightning fast movement, Inu-Yasha was out the window, and down the street, running at top speed to get away from the house, and the raving woman who had once called herself Katherine's mother.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
authors note: HEre we are again. I hope someone's enjoying this. ~Kat 


	9. sickness

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Nine: Sickness  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha ran for a long time, partially in joy of being freed from a curse that had made his life hell for so long, and partially in pain for causing Katherine so much pain. He raced along the streets, occasionally leaping up into trees, and jumping from branch to branch. The girl on his back was trembling and crying, though softly.   
  
He could think of no words to comfort her tears, or to soften the pain that she had probably been feeling.  
  
'She's not only discovered that a long dead demon is after her, but that her own adopted mother would turn her out because of who she keeps the company of.' he thought, his anger building inside again. He would have never done that to his child, and Kagome's family would have never even considered doing that to her even though she MARRIED a half-demon. Surely that was worse than just being friends with one.  
  
But then again, he did not consider himself a friend anymore, but a father.   
  
Inu-Yasha stopped, his balance perfect at the top of a telephone pole. He crouched down on one leg, and left the wind move around him. The spring scents and smells were invigorating as he suddenly realized just what had happened. He had adopted Katherine, without even really knowing it, and she had become his daughter.  
  
She had stopped sobbing, and was breathing erratically. Her heartbeat was going too fast. He listened to the sounds of her over the sounds of new leaves rustling against an invisible wind that brushed past his ankles and feet now, blowing his hair into his face, and then back over his shoulders again, and against Katherine.   
  
"Katherine?" he called over his shoulder, " are you alright?"  
  
she groaned softly, " I hurt." she whimpered.   
  
Inu-Yasha frowned. He swung her from back to front without so much as budging his balance. Looking the girl over, he nodded, " Alright. I'll get us somewhere where we can take care of you." Though he wasn't sure what he was going to do, he felt that it was reassuring, at least a little bit, to the girl.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The seemingly ancient shop smelled of mothballs and moldy books. Inu-Yasha took in the smell, and nodded. He had known that Dori would not leave the shop to anyone but him, in the hopes that one day he would be cured of his curse. It made Inu-Yasha's heart break, to think about his son, who had now left this world to join his wife in the hereafter.  
  
Katherine was half awake, and didn't ask about where they were for the moment. She let Inu-Yasha lay her on a bed in the back of the shop, and cover her up. He looked down at her, and thought or a moment. 'I don't know what her health history is. she's never divulged that to me before.' he thought, and leaned over her, listening for a moment to her heart and breathing. Her breathing was shallow, at best, and the thought that she might be sick like she was back when he had first met her scared Inu-Yasha a great deal.  
  
"Katherine?" he whispered into the emptiness of the room, " I need to know what's wrong."   
  
Katherine looked up at him with eyes half lidded, " Inu-Yasha.. I'm alright." she smiled weakly, " I'm just hurting from what she said."  
  
Inu-Yasha flinched in surprise. She had not called Rudy " momma". "hurting? this badly?" he demanded, "Something else must be wrong."   
  
Katherine breathed deeply as she could, and jerked her midsection at a pain that she was feeling, " Inu-Yasha.." she murmured, " I've always been like this. For a very long time. I don't know what it is. It just happens sometimes." Katherine confessed to the half demon before her, " why did you.. take me away?" she mumbled, her conscious mind slowly loosing grip of reality.  
  
Inu-Yasha looked at her, and held her hand gently in his own claws, " Because. You are my child now." he whispered, " That woman did not know you like I do. She did not love you as a mother, while I care for you like a father." he said softly, " and now, as I do care, as such, I need to know what to do to make this sickness go away."  
  
Katherine's eyes blinked open all the way for a moment. She looked at him with those brown green eyes, and stared, "You.. my father?" she managed in a rasp tone. There was a new emotion now, that Inu-Yasha had never seen before. He wasn't sure if it was happiness, or if it was confusion, or both.   
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, and thought back in his mind, trying to remember something -anything- that might be of use at this point to help him with Katherine. He thought of several things, but none of them would help alleviate the pain that Katherine was obviously feeling now.   
  
'Or the nightmares she will probably have tonight.' he thought secretly.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"drink this, Inu-Yasha."   
  
"what is it, father?"  
  
"Just drink it, and I will tell you afterwards."  
  
Inu-Yasha drank, and felt his insides burn like fire. He fell to the floor in pain, and clutched his stomach. "Father.. father.. what have you given me.." he pleaded.  
  
Picking him up in his human arms, Inu-Yasha's father cradled him, " You are my pup. You are my child. You are my blood and my soul." he whispered to the boy, as he handed him back to his mother one last time.  
  
"Father.. what have you given me?" the young half demon pleaded.  
  
  
  
"The only part of me that I have left to give my half bred son. My blood."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha jerked awake from the nap he had fallen into watching Katherine. the sky outside was dark, and threatening. The sky had gone from bright and promising to dark, and damp. There was rain coming. Inu-Yasha knew that with rain came cold, and he had to find a way to keep Katherine warm.  
  
The aforementioned child lay in the bed he had put her in, her eyes shut and her face damp with sweat. Inu-Yasha made a growl in his throat, and went out into the main part of the closed shop to see if there was anything around that could possibly be of any use.  
  
The main part of the shop was dark, the window blinds shut against the outside world. Books lined the shelves. Curiosities littered little tables that were spread throughout the shop, covered in ancient lace and silk scarves that had turned a tainted brown over time.  
  
Inu-Yasha moved behind the front counter, and ran his clawed hand under the old countertop, searching, feeling for a key. Tape. He found the tape. Ahah! There was the key! he ripped it from it's hiding place, and moved back to the back of the shop. Looking up at the shelves before him, he grumbled something under his breath about wishing e were small for just a moment, and went to grab a chair to stand on.  
  
Standing on a rickety chair that might have been willing to break any moment, Inu-Yasha reached behind stacks of ancient books and grabbed a metal rusty box. He pulled it out, and snorted, huffing the dust from it, and looking the old thing over.  
  
It would seem that no one had found the box in it's safe place, and upon opening it, Inu-Yasha nodded. He'd been right. No one had found it. Inside the box, there was a stash of money. Unfortunately, Inu-Yasha didn't know how much was there, because, well, he really didn't have a need for it on the whole.  
  
He fumbled in the cashbox for a moment, and searched the contents. Everything seemed to be there. Almost ancient passports, national documents that he and Kagome had used when they had moved to this place, Dori's birth certificate.  
  
"Dori." Inu-Yasha muttered wistfully. As though the sound of his name would conjure the son back, Inu-Yasha held still for a moment. When nothing happened, though, he wasn't surprised.  
  
And in the bottom of the box, underneath everything, there was a tiny velvet box. Inu-Yasha opened it, and gazed upon the almost completed Shikkon no Tama. The one tiny shard that remained missing had left the smallest of mars on the otherwise perfect jewel. It glittered with unearthly appeal in it's little safe place, and Inu-Yasha clapped the top of the box back down on it before putting the entire metal box under his arm, and getting off the rickety old chair that he was standing on.  
  
He went back into the room with Katherine, afraid to leave her alone for too long at a time. Her face was twisted in a horrible fashion, as though she had drunk something bitter, and she was breathing hard. He could smell panic on her being, a fear that seemed to penetrate everything in the room.  
  
'Naraku.' he growled thinking the name. Without thinking, Inu-Yasha picked the girl up into his arms, and cradled her in his lap, as he sat back down where she had been. He tucked the blanket around her gently, to stop her trembling, despite her fever, and held her tightly. " I'm here." he said firmly, not willing to whisper any longer, " I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere."  
  
Katherine didn't stop trembling, and let out a soft yelp as she reached for her stomach. "no!" she gasped.  
  
Inu-Yasha didn't need to be told what was probably going on in the nightmare, as he put his hand over hers, " He's not going to touch you, Katherine." he said, "I'm not going to let him. He's a dead old bastard who wants to hang onto the past, and he's not going to hang on through you, I wont let him."  
  
Katherine seemed to calm a little bit, though her breathing was still wrong.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Naraku frowned as he felt a strange power overwhelm him on this plane that he was trapped on. It was definitely not human. But on the other hand, not quite demon either. " Inu-Yasha." he snorted out loud, and looked at the young girl he had chained to the wall in front of him.  
  
Katherine's eyes opened a little bit, and she looked at her attacker, " Inu-Yasha.." she whispered in response. There was something about his name that seemed safe to her, and she struggled against her bonds again, "Let me go! I don't have it!"  
  
Naraku smirked, and shook his head, " You're wrong child." he assured her, " You're very, very wrong." he moved towards her, and pulled back a hand from underneath his baboon robes. He reached for her stomach again, and pushed his hand against it.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine screamed in her sleep, so loud that for a moment Inu-Yasha wondered if it even really came from her for the moment before he woke up as quickly as he could. " Katherine." he shook her gently, " Katherine!"  
  
The girl awoke with a moan, and opened her eyes a crack, before closing them again, and sighing. Her heart was beating all the way up in her throat, and her stomach was aching.  
  
"oh! Inu-Yasha.." she put her head against his chest and breathed deeply.   
  
Inu-Yasha stared at the little thing that was curling up against him. How could someone who possessed a Shard of the Shikkon no Tama be so weak? so frail? He cradled her in his arms, tensed for the moment, and unwilling to believe that everything would be alright.   
  
There was something very wrong.   
  
and from what he could tell, the only way to find out what it was, was to get her somewhere safe.   
  
The only safe place he could think of was the Bone eaters well. The past.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine seemed alright for the moment. Her eyes were a little bit dull, but that's what happens when you lose all your family in one night. She was burning up from a fever much like the one she had once before.   
  
Inu-Yasha felt a panic rise up in him, and trembled a little bit. He didn't know what to do, or where to take her. He was afraid that if he took her to the hospital, they would take her from him and give her back to Rudy. He just wouldn't hear of it!  
  
But once again: She was sick. If he didn't do something for her soon...  
  
Gods only knew.   
  
  
  
"Inu-yasha." she whispered, "I'm sick." she was trembling.   
  
"I know." The words sounded short and snappish. Inu-Yasha hadn't meant for them to come out that way, but there they were.   
  
Katherine was silent.   
  
Inu-Yasha was growing more and more desperate. " Katherine.. you have to tell me what's wrong with you!" He finally exclaimed, " I have to help you, but I can't if you don't tell me what's wrong!"  
  
Katherine remained silent, drifting in and out of an eluding sleep, " I-" she whispered, "I have a disease."   
  
"What's it called?" Inu-Yasha demanded.  
  
"I... don't know.." she whispered, " Rudy never told me."  
  
'what?!' Inu-Yasha jerked. She had to be joking, right?! How could a person not know what's wrong with them? How could they not know? Especially at her age! "Che! you're joking! You must know something!"  
  
Katherine breathed in shallowly, and let the breath out again, " I don't know, Inu-Yasha. It's a combination of things, I think. The hospital transfuses blood into me when I go. They talk about me, but I can't ever hear them. they give me too many drugs." the words were forced, and quiet, but Inu-Yasha understood them well enough.  
  
Whatever this was, it had to do with her blood. Or a Combination of her blood and something else. How could she not know though?  
  
The girl started to cry, " It hurts so badly, Inu-Yasha." she whimpered. Tears rolled down her cheeks and onto Inu-Yasha where he held her.   
  
'She's crying! damn it!' Inu-Yasha rocked her back and forth. IT was the only thing he could think of that would help any for the moment.  
  
Cut the crap. He had to take her to the hospital, whether he liked it or not.   
  
"Katherine, I'm going to take you to the hospital." he whispered over her, " But I'm not going to let them take you away, do you hear me?"  
  
Katherine was asleep.  
  
Her fever was spiking.  
  
Something wicked filed the air around Inu-Yasha as he wrapped her up tightly, and Lifted her up in his arms. "don't go to sleep on me Yet, Katherine." he hissed, " don't you dare. You're scaring me."  
  
Katherine showed no signs of fighting the sleep she was in. It seemed eerily calm.   
  
He shifted her weight to one side, and picked up the phone. There was no dial tone.   
  
"Chikuso!" he swore, and then broke off into a deadbolt run towards where he remembered the hospital being. He hoped that it had not changed, and that his memory held correctly.   
  
Relying on his Hanyou speed and strength now, he raced as fast as his legs would carry him, with only one thought on his mind. Get her to the hospital.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Doctor Amberson please report to the ER Doctor Amberson please report to the ER.  
  
Inu-Yasha, ignoring the stares he was getting from the people around him brought Katherine up to the front desk, " she needs to see a doctor." he panted out.  
  
"Name?"  
  
"Katherine."  
  
The woman behind the desk looked up at him in a strange way, " Katherine---" she made a gesture with her pen.  
  
'Last name idiot! she needs a last name!' Inu-Yasha thought quickly, and unable to remember hers, if she had ever told it to him, managed a weak, " Higurashi."  
  
The woman arched a heavily penciled eyebrow. She obviously didn't believe him, but continued anyhow, " What's wrong with her?"  
  
"She's running a really high fever, Gods woman! I don't know what the hell's wrong with her! If I did, would I be here?! She has some sort of disease, but I don't know what it is!"  
  
"Probably." the woman replied dryly, " Has he been a patient here before? We might have a record on what's wrong with her."  
  
Now Inu-Yasha was at a loss. a tall doctor with a red tie rushed past him, and then stopped, "Excuse me, sir, is there a problem?"  
  
The Hanyou felt like he was going to scream, " listen, very closely, This girl is VERY sick. someone needs to look at her, like NOW." He shoved Katherine's body towards the man, and his eyes widened, "Katherine? she hasn't been here in months!" he shouted for a stretcher, and began to impale Inu-Yasha with questions, " How long has she been like this?"  
  
"About three hours I guess." Inu-yasha thought about it. That sounded about right.   
  
"what was her fever last time you took it?"   
  
" I don't know! I'm not the doctor here!"  
  
"I need TWO a negative! STAT!" the doctor yelled, " When did she start showing symptoms?" he demanded.  
  
Inu-Yasha was amazed at the speed of the doctors hands as he pricked Katherine with a needle, and left it in her skin.  
  
"WHEN did she start showing symptoms!" he demanded again.  
  
"I don't know what you mean!" Inu-Yasha shouted back.  
  
The doctor said nothing for a moment, and hooked an IV up to Katherine's arm, " She would have complained about not feeling well, or she might have not been eating, or complained about being cold, I don't know! anything out of the ordinary? Or did it just start with the fever?"  
  
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment that seemed to take forever, " she hasn't been eating right for a while, but other than that this all started with her complaining about not feeling well." Not a total lie.   
  
"I need ice!" the doctor yelled, upon pulling a thermometer out Katherine's.. Oh Gods! When had he put that THERE!?   
  
A nurse stood next to Katherine, and took her blood pressure, " Blood pressure is falling, Dr. Evans!"  
  
"Good, maybe her temp will to." the doctor replied, starting to calm down a little bit. Katherine groaned. He frowned over her, and then turned his attention to Inu-Yasha, " you can't be in here now. It's not sanitary."  
  
Inu-Yasha stared, " I'm not leaving her!" he protested, " I can't!"  
  
"Sir, you have to leave, this room is going to be a closed one in a moment, and you can't be in here while the doctor does his work." a Nurse took Inu-Yasha by the arm, and started to lead him away.   
  
He was helpless to do anything.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine sighed softly in her sleep as she was left in her room for the moment. Inu-Yasha would be permitted to see her soon.   
  
But the figure in her room moved in closely. Yes, a figure, a dark mass of smoke that withered when it came close to the sunlight from the hospital room window.  
  
Katherine sighed softly in her unconscious bliss. For the moment, she would be alright.   
  
But the smokey figure didn't want her to be alright. It wanted her to stop living, and give up what it wanted.  
  
Inu-Yasha finally made his way to her room, and opened the door slowly. So far, a few people had made remarks about his ears and white hair, but no one had tried to keep him from Katherine once he had made it clear that he would get to her come hell or high water.   
  
He saw the mist, and instantly reached for the sword that stayed at his side, but the dark figure dissipated away into the light as he did, and was gone.  
  
Instantly afraid that something might have happened to Katherine, Inu-Yasha rushed to her side.   
  
"Katherine?" he whispered.   
  
The girls eyes opened slowly, and looked up at him with hollow eyes, " Inu-Yasha?" her voice was weak.   
  
He smiled, letting out a breath of relief, " Hi there." He put his hand on her arm, " How are you feeling?"   
  
".. I'm alright." Katherine said softly. The truth was that she felt weak and sleepy, but she didn't want to appear any worse than she was to Inu-Yasha.   
  
Inu-Yasha's ears twitched towards her when she said that, and he sniffed, " You're a bad liar." he put his hand on her forehead. She was cooler now, but a little bit clammy. She needed a shower, probably.   
  
Katherine smiled at him, and put her IV hand on his arm, " I'll be alright."  
  
Inu-yasha shuddered inwardly at the needle in Katherine's arm, " why do you have to be hooked up like that?" he asked.   
  
The girl blinked, her face confused for a moment as she processed his words, and then yawned, " oh. The IV. It's keeping my medication coming into me. That way the doctors don't have to give me a new shot every ten minutes."  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, and looked up at the second bag, " and the blood?"  
  
Katherine was at a loss, " I don't know. The doctor said once that my red blood cell count comes low when this happens. I have less blood in my body, so it tries to compensate..."  
  
Inu-Yasha jerked, " Less blood? How's that possible without bleeding?!"  
  
Katherine shrugged the best she could, " I don't know. Neither does the doctor. It's stumped them just as much as us."  
  
'It's the shard.' Inu-Yasha thought bitterly, 'Gods, it's that damned shard!' He didn't know how he knew that, or even if it were true, but right now that seemed to be the only thing that made sense about this whole 'disease' thing.   
  
"The doctor said that you would be able to leave in a few hours. They just want-"  
  
"To make sure my fever doesn't spike again." Katherine finished, " I know. It happens like this every time."  
  
There was a moment of silence between the two of them, and Inu-Yasha frowned, " Katherine? How many times have you been here? The doctor knew you by name..."  
  
"oh. I know. Mr. Evans always takes care of me." Katherine didn't seem bothered by this, " and this has been going on since I was very young, Inu-Yasha. He's been taking care of me for always, as far back as I can remember."  
  
"Does your fever usually go back up again?"  
  
Katherine shook her head, " No Not in a lon-oh no." she paused, and her dim eyes filled with barely conscious panic, " Ohh no, they'll call Mo-Rudy."   
  
Inu-Yasha frowned deeply, " what?"  
  
"she's my legal Guardian, They'll call her to have her come and pick me up from the hospital." Katherine didn't feel as though she could stay awake much longer to warn Inu-Yasha, and she yawned again, " I'm so sleepy, Inu-Yasha." she whispered.  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " Katherine, will they let me take you out of the hospital?"  
  
Katherine was asleep.  
  
"Katherine?" Inu-Yasha frowned. He sighed softly, and folded his arms. How could he possibly get her out of the hospital without Rudy?  
  
He looked up at the window, and thought for a long time. He got up and walked to it, looking down at the rooftop below them, and nodded. "Mnn."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy frowned at the voice on the other end of the phone at first, and then smiled. "Alright. I'll come and pick her up in a half an hour... And Miss?"   
  
the voice on the other end responded.  
  
"Don't let her leave that hospital with anyone but me please."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: Wondering why I'm writting? So do I ^_^ ~Kat 


	10. Escape

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Ten: Escape  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine was sitting up on her bed when the CNA brought in her dinner. She smiled at the woman in her pink and blue scrubs, and then looked at Inu-Yasha, " hungry?" she shoved the plate of food towards him, and he looked at her incredously, " You need to eat." he said firmly, and pushed the plate back to her.  
  
Katherine made a face, " Have you ever tasted hospital food?" she scrunched up her face, and giggled, " I'm not hungry."  
  
Inu-Yasha sniffed at the food, and then looked at her, " It smells fine."  
  
"What it smells like and what it tastes like are two different things." Katherine retorted with a half smile, " and I'll be fine for now. If you're hungry, help yourse-"  
  
The room door opened and in walked a worried looking Rudy, in a flurry of half true tears and cries of relief.  
  
Inu-Yasha stared, and jerked when she moved towards Katherine.   
  
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, standing in front of Katherine.  
  
"I'm here to get my daughter."  
  
"Che! not this again! you already wanted her to leave, why do you bother coming for her?" he demanded, raising his voice a bit.   
  
Rudy looked genuinely hurt for a moment, though her eyes read a different expression, " I came for my daughter because I love her, now move, demon."  
  
"Half demon for your information." Inu-yasha spat, " And I will not."  
  
Katherine's eyes were wide. Why had Rudy come to get her? Why had she bothered? She didn't care about her, did she?  
  
"Katherine, darling, you have to understand that I've got to look out for your best interests." Rudy said gently, " I don't want your soul eternally damned because of your interest in this HALF demon." she glared at Inu-Yasha, " I want for you to come to heaven with me, where you belong."  
  
Katherine felt a cold tremor run down her spine. There was just something about the way that Rudy had said that, that made her not want to go with the woman even more than before. "Rudy." she said softly, " You already told me that I was damned."  
  
Rudy did not like being called anything other than Mother by Katherine, and it showed on her face when the girl called her such, but she did not protest, " There's still time to save your soul, darling. You have to beg God for forgiveness."  
  
Katherine narrowed her eyes, " Rudy. He's a good person, with good intentions. and My best interest in mind."  
  
Inu-Yasha was surprised at this from Katherine, but was secretly pleased by this confession from her, " damn right." he said.  
  
"Good intentions pave the road to hell, darling. I just want to make sure that you're taken care of." Rudy chided, " Now be reasonable, and tell him to move so that we can go home."  
  
Katherine was silent, and then sighed softly, " I don't have a home."   
  
the room became silent, and Inu-Yasha felt something in him ache. How could she say that when he was offering her a home with him? Or maybe she didn't mean it the way it sounded? Or maybe...  
  
Just maybe she meant she had no home with this lying half caring woman...   
  
  
  
"Don't be ridicules, darling!" Rudy protested, " you're always welcome to come home.. you have a home with me and your grandparents!"  
  
Katherine became silent again, " no." she whispered softly, " I haven't got a home with you."  
  
Inu-Yasha smirked, " you heard her, bitch, go away."  
  
Rudy sneered, " If you really think I'm going to let you walk away with my daughter, you're sadly mistaken." she moved towards Katherine again, but Inu-Yasha stepped in the way.  
  
"You are not taking her anywhere, Wench. She's not your daughter." Inu-Yasha repeated, " Katherine is old enough to make decisions for herself, and if she says she doesn't want to go with you, then By god, she doesn't have to go with you." he put his hand to the handle of his sword to drive his point home. He would never use the Tetsuigua on this woman, but he wanted her to know that he was serious.   
  
He was going to protect Katherine come hell or high water, and that meant from her as well.   
  
Whether she liked it or not.   
  
  
  
Rudy backed up a step, " fine." she hissed, " But you just see if they let you take her out of here."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha looked down at Katherine, " Are you ready?"  
  
Katherine nodded, as she put her arms up around Inu-Yasha's neck. " I can move myself you know." she managed in a weak tone.  
  
"Not like this you can't." he replied, and moved her into the wheelchair that the CNA had provided for them. She looked at Inu-Yasha, and then at the CNA in the room, " thank you so much." she said sweetly, " You don't know how much this meant to me."  
  
The CNA smiled, " It's alright, Katherine. I'm sure your mother will be glad to have you home again."  
  
Katherine smiled back, and Inu-Yasha nodded politely towards the girl, " you have my thanks."  
  
It was amazing at how polite he could be, when need be.   
  
The CNA blushed, and smiled flirtatiously, though she was a bit apprehensive about the dog ears and snow white hair. "Any favor for Katherine's mother, you know? I had no idea that You had such a sweet Uncle.." she smiled again, and Katherine blushed.   
  
'Uncle indeed.' Inu-Yasha thought. He could only imagine how angry Rudy would be when she found out that he had indeed taken Katherine from the hospital without her. He smirked. He wished he could see the look of shock on her face. That would be priceless!  
  
But without further thought or ado, he wheeled Katherine out of the hospital. And that was that.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine wheeled slowly around the small shop. It seemed so familiar somehow, and yet...  
  
She sneezed.  
  
Inu-Yasha jumped at the sound, and shook off the sensation when he realized that it was simply Katherine. He was sitting on the counter in the front of the store, letting Katherine roam as she saw fit. He knew that she was in no danger here. But it was pouring outside, and there was little of no warmth in this place.   
  
He'd thrown an old blanket over her, but once night fell, she was going to be cold. He prayed to the Gods above that she wouldn't get sick again.  
  
"Inu-Yasha?"  
  
His ears pricked, " Hnn?"  
  
"I've been here before." she said simply, " I remember. It was a long time ago, though."  
  
He nodded, " Yes. I remember you coming in with your grandfather."  
  
Katherine didn't say anything, " I miss Grampa."  
  
Biting his tongue a bit, Inu-Yasha moved from the counter, " Surely, you don't want to go back to them?" he asked, moving over towards her. She was flipping through an ancient looking photo album.  
  
Katherine looked up at him, and with a meek smile, shook her head no, " no. I love them. They know I love them."  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " I see."  
  
"but.."  
  
'I knew it was too good..' thought the Hanyou.  
  
"What are we going to do now? are we to live here, Inu-Yasha?"  
  
The question was a surprise to Inu-Yasha, who had given this whole situation little more thought than simply to get her away from Rudy. He crouched down next to her, coming to her height in the chair, " I'm not sure."  
  
It seemed to surprise Katherine. "oh." was her answer.  
  
"What do you want to do?"  
  
There was a long silence between the two of them. Rain outside pattered and beat against the windows of the shop. A roll of thunder raced overhead, almost too quickly, and Katherine wrapped the blanket closer around her for warmth.   
  
The photo album was closed now, and the girl looked down at it, eyes glazed like in a trance, " Inu-Yasha?"  
  
"hen?"  
  
"I want to learn how to walk."  
  
He smiled a bit, " I knew that already." he said a bit shortly. Katherine looked at him, but knew that he was being kind in heart.   
  
"Can we go to Japan?"  
  
it wasn't the first time this subject had been brought up, and Inu-yasha wasn't so fast to answer this time. He thought for a long moment, about their options. Once Katherine was able to walk again, there was no reason that they couldn't go to the bone eaters well...  
  
At least he'd be in a time where he could protect her without having to worry about things like police and such.  
  
And it wouldn't be as though there would be a lack of people who would care for her. If he was right, things would be ok. She would probably make fast friends with Shippo, and Sango.   
  
Miroku would probably find her.. what was he thinking?  
  
He shook his head, his ears making a funny sound when he did so. If he did take her there, what was there to say that time had not passed there like it had here, with Kagome being dead and all.  
  
when she had been alive it was as though time had stopped there. But now that she was no longer alive, Inu-Yasha wasn't sure that this was the case. He thought about it a moment longer, and nodded.   
  
If he had been looking at her face, Inu-Yasha would have noticed that Katherine's eyes lit up, " really?" she asked.  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded again, " Hai. If you really want to go... I'll take you."  
  
He was surprised when Katherine threw her arms around his shoulders, and hugged. Her strength was gone for the moment, but Inu-yasha could feel the power behind the hug. This really meant something to her.  
  
And to him, that mattered.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
that night, Katherine tossed in bed. Her head wallered against the meager pillow that Inu-Yasha had found in the back room, and groaned lightly in her sleep. She was crying now.  
  
Inu-Yasha leaned over her, and sniffed. She was having another nightmare. He thought back to the dream that he had been in with her.   
  
"Naraku" he hissed under his breath, and growled in a feral way. Katherine reached up from her blanket, straight up over her head, and breathed out in pain, sobbing, pleading, begging for the being in her dreams to let her be.   
  
the feral growl became louder, and Inu-Yasha took Katherine's hand in his. He cradled it against his heart, and murmured soothing words to the young girl.   
  
And then, to her predator, he growled loudly, " this is my daughter." he knew the predator had to be Naraku, " and I shit you not, Naraku.." he snarled in Japanese, " If you hurt her, You'll suffer a fate worse than death."  
  
Katherine froze in her sleep.  
  
One.  
  
Two.  
  
three seconds.  
  
Katherine let out an ear piercing scream at the top of her lungs.  
  
Inu-Yasha jerked back from the force behind the scream, and his ears rang in pain. For a moment, he thought that she has literally burst his eardrums, and then, he could smell the scent of fear, and pain on her.  
  
"Katherine! listen to me.."  
  
she whimpered, " In-.." she started.  
  
'that's all she has to say..' he thought, ' and she knows I'll protect her.'  
  
But Katherine didn't finish that sentence. she body tensed. She took in a deep breath.  
  
And Inu-Yasha jerked her gently, " Katherine! wake up!" he commanded.  
  
she didn't open her eyes at all. in fact, it seemed to only make her panic more.   
  
Inu-Yasha panicked, " Katherine!" he grabbed her up in his arms, and held her tightly. " Naraku! leave her alone you bastard!"  
  
For a moment, Katherine was still again, and then she curled into Inu-Yasha's arms, and was quiet.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha knew where he was the instant he set foot on the dark dead ground. "oi.." he hissed, and looked around, his golden eyes taking in the surroundings.   
  
Not to far from his was a large tree, very much like the one that he had been pinned to ages before.   
  
Pinned to it now was Katherine's limp body. She was so weak, so docile looking.  
  
He moved towards her with the speed that only he could possess in this world, and in an instant was next to her.   
  
She was being held up by a single bit of rope, round her neck, and by a board at her feet. He sniffed. She was alive. Probably not comfortable, but alive. "Katherine.." he muttered gently.  
  
Her eyes did not open.  
  
but something behind him moved.  
  
Inu-Yasha narrowed his eyes, knowing this scent immediately, " oi... Yarou.." he hissed, and whipped around to be face to face with a black haired man, weak in his age, wrinkled by time, with a lingering death-like determination in his eyes.   
  
"Inu-Yasha. you return.." he smirked.  
  
"Naraku.." Inu-Yasha let out another feral growl, " Leave her alone!" He took up a protective stance in front of Katherine.  
  
Naraku smirked, " Not while she has that jewel shard."   
  
Inu-Yasha flinched, " you will not..." he began, unsheathing the Tetsuigua, " hurt her."  
  
Naraku smirked, " in case you haven't noticed. This is not your dream.." he smirked, " it's hers. And guess what..?" he motioned to the rusty sword Inu-Yasha held in his hand, " It looks like you have little of no power here."  
  
Inu-Yasha swore, and then looked back at Katherine, " what have you done to her?!" he demanded.  
  
Naraku smirked, and casually walked past Inu-Yasha, up to where Katherine was pined, " Nothing more or less than she allowed me to. you see, humans have such weak minds.. Especially the young ones..."  
  
Inu-Yasha felt his demon blood boil, and his human blood curdle. He growled again, " You stay away from her!" he commanded, moving towards Naraku in a quick manner. His claws and teeth were both bared, and ready to shed blood if necessary.  
  
Naraku smirked, and backed off a bit, " allow me to demonstrate." he raised one finger, and with a crack, the board beneath Katherine's feet was gone. "I heard once, as I was floating in oblivion, and is a human believes they are dead in their sleep then their body agrees and dies as well.." he smirked.  
  
Inu-Yasha stared in horror as Katherine struggled against the rope that was no applying an amount of pressure equal to her own weight against her throat. She was gasping for breath, struggling.  
  
"Of course, the more she struggles against it, the longer it takes, and the harder it is on her." Naraku smirked, " And f course, with her dead, the jewel is of no use to her, and I can take it for myself once again."  
  
This was just too much for Inu-Yasha now. He reached out to Katherine, but his hand went through the tree she was against. Her jerked back as though he had been burned. "NANI?" he demanded.  
  
"It's HER dream, after all." Naraku smirked, " nothing you can do about it. you only have as much power as she lets you have. and it seems that since she doesn't know that you're here, well..." he grinned wickedly, " you have none." and with that, he drew himself upwards, " while I, on the other hand, " he withdrew a sword that might have been a mirror of Inu-Yasha's own, " Have plenty."  
  
"what?" Inu-Yasha backed up, his back to Katherine, and his eyes on the demon before him. 'There has to be a way for me to get to her!' his mind raced.  
  
The sword swung close to Inu-Yasha's ribs, and he dodged it with little effort. However, he didn't expect what happened next: as Naraku appeared behind him, and Punched the blade of the sword right through his stomach. The Hanyou felt the world stop around him. His mind was no so weak as to believe what Naraku had said about being able to die from a dream. However.  
  
It did hurt.   
  
the blood was real, or at least, it might as well have been from the scent and consistency.   
  
He let out a yowl that would have put Katherine's scream to shame.  
  
And with that, Katherine's eyes jerked open. " Inu-Yasha!" she shouted in response.  
  
There was a sudden jar inside the Hanyou's body as he felt something new imbibe within him. He smirked, and grabbed the Tetsuigua. "Obviously, you thought to much too soon, Bastard." he smirked, and with that, he swung his own sword to behead the demon behind him.  
  
Naraku, surprised by the sudden power that had been bestowed on Inu-Yasha, was still not ready to admit defeat in any way shape or form. They fought for moments that seemed like ages.  
  
Katherine struggled for breath against the impending doom of her sleep.  
  
"Katherine! listen to me! ung!" Inu-Yasha blocked another blow, and growled as he swung, " This is a DREAM! do you hear me! none of this is real! He's just.. " He was cut short by Naraku making a straight blow towards him, and the two tumbled to the ground.   
  
Katherine gasped for air, trying to comprehend. But all she could think about was the blackness that was trying to consume her.  
  
"don't listen to him Katherine.. He's a demon. They're evil, isn't that what your mother told you?" Naraku said back in a strangely calm voice as he attempted to remove Inu-Yasha arm from his body.  
  
"Katherine! this is a God damned dream! do you hear me!? a dream!" Inu-Yasha tried to shout over Naraku's calm voice.  
  
Katherine, however, didn't show signs of seeing either.  
  
Naraku leaned in closer, and he breathed against Inu-Yasha's face, " she can't hear you." he smirked, " she can only hear her own self pity."  
  
Inu-Yasha kicked him off, and stood up, " Katherine!"  
  
The girls eyes opened slowly. Very slowly, and she looked around with blurred vision. 'A dream..' she thought.  
  
Inu-yasha was standing not to far from her.   
  
the dark man that had been dressed in white not long before was coming up behind him! and Inu-Yasha was facing her!  
  
"Inu-Yasha!"  
  
"Katherine! This is a DREAM! Do I hafta spell it out for you!?"  
  
"LOOK OUT!"   
  
turning around Just in time, Inu-Yasha blocked the attack from Naraku, and pushed him away, kicking him in the face twice before putting his sword to his neck. "I'm going to put an end to this right NOW." he hissed.  
  
Naraku smirked, and disappeared.  
  
"what?! Where the hell?" He didn't have a moment to wonder. In a half second, everything changed in Naraku's favor. The demon pinned Inu-Yasha down to the ground, the mirror Sword in his stomach like a pin. The demon stood over him, and moved towards Katherine, " Now. Give me that Jewel shard.."  
  
Katherine whimpered.  
  
Inu-Yasha shouted obscenities.   
  
Naraku reached for Katherine, and just as he was about to touch her, Katherine heard a firm, gentle voice speak to her.  
  
"Katherine... I want you to listen to me. right. Now. "  
  
'Inu-Yasha.'  
  
"This whole thing is just a dream. It's a figment of your imagination. It does not have to end like this. now I told you I was going to protect you, and By god, I will, but I can't when I'm pinned down like this.."  
  
Naraku's cold dead hand was so close that Katherine was afraid he might just snatch whatever it was he wanted right then and there...  
  
"But he does not have to win if you don't want this. This is your mind, Katherine. Not his. He's a tricky bastard.."  
  
'my.. mind..'  
  
Inu-Yasha felt something strange come over him.   
  
Katherine was soft spoken, as a rule, and that didn't seem to change now, "Inu-Yasha promised me that if I ever needed him.."  
  
Naraku smirked," He's dead.."  
  
"Inu-Yasha promised me that if I ever needed him," Katherine repeated, " He'd be there to protect me." her voice was soft, " He said that once he defeated the strongest of demons.."  
  
"Hah. did he mention that it was over 500 years ago?" Naraku spat, his face close to Katherine's. His hand brushed against her stomach.  
  
"don't you dare touch her." Came Inu-Yasha's voice.   
  
"And what are you going to do about it?" Naraku smirked, turning around...  
  
to come fact to face with one bad ass looking Hanyou. His yellow eyes glittered with power, and amusement, " You're the one who said the power of this dream was hers."  
  
"WHAT! NO!"   
  
"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" Inu-Yasha attacked.  
  
Naraku disappeared in a wisp of smoke.  
  
Katherine looked at Inu-Yasha with misty eyes. She was slowly suffocating.   
  
HE cut the rope that was holding her up, and took her in his arms, " You're slow to learn." he said.  
  
She trembled, "Sometimes, nightmares can't be controlled." she replied in turn, and shook. She looked up at him, " Inu-Yasha?"  
  
He looked down at her.  
  
She smiled up at him weakly, " this is a dream?" she whispered.  
  
He nodded.  
  
"then take it out of me, and you have it." she said softly.   
  
Inu-Yasha blinked, " what?"  
  
Katherine looked up at him with a pitiful look that would have wounded a fully grown human soldier. "this.. jewel thing. You can have it."  
  
Inu-Yasha sat Katherine down on the ground, and looked down at her, " Katherine, listen to me. This Jewel might be the only thing keeping you alive."  
  
Katherine shook her head, " I know."  
  
"I can't."  
  
She took his hand, claws and all, in hers, and set it against her stomach. "Here." She said, " he kept trying for it here."  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " Katherine.."  
  
"You said this was only a dream, Inu-Yasha."  
  
Inu-Yasha hesitated. There was a time that he wouldn't have hesitated in taking the shard from her, bloody hands or no, that shard would have been his.   
  
Kagome had become his sort of conscious.   
  
"You said it was only a dream." She whispered again, " please. Just take it."  
  
And with that, she shoved his hand against her, letting his claws pierce her skin.   
  
Tears rolled down her cheeks.  
  
"You've.." she gasped, and pushed his hand down. Inu-Yasha found he was unable to resist, "You've been the best friend I've ever had.."  
  
Something touched against his claw, as he brushed the middle of his hand against the outside of her stomach, " Katherine.." His eyes widened, " I've found it."  
  
She nodded, "You would make a good daddy.." she whispered, letting the tears choke her words, " I wish you had been mine."  
  
And then he woke up. 


	11. My blood is your blood

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
Chapter Eleven: My blood is your blood  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The scent of blood was heavy in the room, as Inu-Yasha's eyes snapped open. He almost dared not look down, but he already knew what was waiting for his eyes.   
  
The blood of the little girl on the bed was all over him, and herself. A sloppy gouge in her stomach told him all he needed to know, and he scooped her up in his arms.  
  
Her pulse was void. Her breathing was all but gone.   
  
"Katherine!" he felt a panic thumping up in his throat.   
  
She didn't say anything. Her eyes were closed, and he could only pray to the powers that existed above that it wasn't forever. The first thought in his mind was that he should take her to the hospital.  
  
But she was so far gone that he was certain if he took her out into the rain that was pounding outside it would kill her. Maybe not from the loss of blood, but she would get sick.   
  
In her body's weakened state, he was sure it would kill her.   
  
  
  
"drink this, Inu-Yasha."   
  
"what is it, father?"  
  
"Just drink it, and I will tell you afterwards."  
  
Inu-Yasha drank, and felt his insides burn like fire. He fell to the floor in pain, and clutched his stomach. "Father.. father.. what have you given me.." he pleaded.  
  
Picking him up in his human arms, Inu-Yasha's father cradled him, " You are my pup. You are my child. You are my blood and my soul." he whispered to the boy, as he handed him back to his mother one last time.  
  
"Father.. what have you given me?" the young half demon pleaded.  
  
  
  
"The only part of me that I have left to give my half bred son. My blood."  
  
The memory dream came to the Hanyou unbidden, and he jerked his head to one side. He'd heard once… But only just once, a long time ago that blood like his was powerful.   
  
All demons blood could do wonders if applied the right way.  
  
But.  
  
He was only half demon.  
  
Would it work?  
  
"It doesn't matter," he said out loud, " The only option is to try."  
  
And so he took one claw, and cut himself over his arm, where the vein was brightest against his flesh.   
  
The blood poured freely, but only just for a moment before it healed up again. He had to re-cut it, and placed it over Katherine's mouth.   
  
"Drink." He whispered. He prayed she at least could hear him.  
  
Her lips moved against his arm, and he only assumed that she, like he had once, was apprehensive, even in this state, and confused as to what he was doing.  
  
"drink." He commanded again.  
  
He felt her lips suck a bit, but just weakly, before she convulsed.  
  
But she didn't vomit, like e half expected. Her breathing became narrow. Her pulse was one beat every few seconds. If he lost her, that would be the end of it.  
  
She was his daughter, and this was the only gift he had to give her, after what she had allowed him to do.  
  
"please, Katherine.. please, drink. Just a bit more." He pleaded, " For me."  
  
And she did.. slowly…  
  
She was asleep for what seemed like forever after that.  
  
But alive.  
  
Asleep, but alive.  
  
Inu-Yasha looked down at the bloody sliver between his claws, and then looked back to where the box was. He looked down at Katherine, unwilling to leave her side, even for a moment.  
  
Decades after the mission had begun, the jewel was complete. And for what price? A tiny human child who had no family left?   
  
"no." he whispered out loud, " you have me. I'm your family now." He looked over her, and brushed his hand over her face.  
  
She took a deep breath, and rolled her head towards him, " Inu-" she began.  
  
He smiled, " You're alive."  
  
"what did.. it burns.." she whimpered softly.  
  
"the only thing I could give to my only daughter." He replied, much like his father had, " My blood."   
  
Katherine's eyes closed again, and she smiled softly, " You called me your daughter." She said gently. Her breaths were shallow, but steady enough that Inu-Yasha was not worried about it.  
  
He blushed, and nodded, " Yes. You're the reason I'm not a doll anymore. I had to gain a daughter. And I did. You are that daughter." He said gently.   
  
There was a silence where the rain spoke for them.  
  
Tears rolled down Katherine's cheeks. She smiled blissfully, and sobbed out, " Thank you… Daddy.."  
  
That was all it took for Inu-Yasha to be able to heal now. He hadn't been called Daddy in so long that he had forgotten that such a word existed.   
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
Katherine breathed in a little bit, and smiled weakly, " I'm ok, I think.." then she made a pained face, " but why does it burn so?"  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled a little bit, and smoothed out her hair again, "Because it's making you my daughter." He said gently, "It's marking you."  
  
"Will I be like you?" she asked softly.  
  
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment. He didn't think that his fathers blood had made him any different in any way. But there was a difference between her and himself. He had been half demon to begin with, and she was in no way demon. If anything, this little heaven sent child was an angel.   
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"so no puppy ears?" she asked with a soft giggle.  
  
He smiled, " no. No dog ears."  
  
And with that, Katherine fell into a restful sleep, bothered by no demons, no cares, and no bullies.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
authors note: what no dog ears? *SniffleS* I like the dog ears. ~Kat 


	12. New school, New dad

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
chapter Twelve: New School, NEw Dad  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine's wheelchair made a soft sound as it ran over the linoleum of the new school that Inu-Yasha had enrolled her in. She was wearing a new dress, made of red soft material. She was blushing, and shy. Her father stood behind her, well dressed in a pair of slacks and a white button down the front shirt, with a ball cap covering his ears. His long white hair was pulled back in a pony-tail, at the nape of his neck.  
  
"You'll be alright?" he asked, sniffing a bit. There was a familiar smell here, but he thought maybe that was because this place smelled like so many people that had come and gone and so on that he was probably picking up the scent of someone he'd once smelt in the store, who had come and gone.   
  
Katherine nodded, " I'll be alright, Daddy." she said in a low voice.  
  
Some children walked by them, taking little note of the girl in a wheelchair and the man with long white hair who was behind her.   
  
Inu-Yasha rolled Katherine to the principals office, and took her in. He smiled at the secretary, who blushed, and smiled back, busying herself with a stack of papers on her desk.  
  
the principal smiled when he saw Inu-Yasha and Katherine, " Ah! you must be Katherine and Mr. Hanyou." he stood up from where he sat, and offered a hand.   
  
Inu-Yasha took it with little thought, and gave the man a firm grip.   
  
"So. Mrs. Greensalve will give you your schedule at the front desk, and you can be on your way, alright Miss Hanyou?"   
  
Katherine nodded a little bit, looking down at her hands in her lap. she didn't really want to go back to school, but Inu-Yasha had insisted on her going. His excuse had been that Kagome would have shot him if he didn't make her go.  
  
She backed herself up, being careful of Inu-Yasha's toes, and rolled out into the waiting room.   
  
Mrs. Greensalve was a very plump woman with a kind face. She looked like the kind of lady with a lot of cats, and who baked cookies for children who probably came to visit her. "I was told to come and get my class schedule from you, onegai.." she said politely. She bowed a little in her chair, surprising the woman.  
  
"well, aren't you polite." the woman said, missing the fact that the girl had spoken in Japanese in front of her. She handed Katherine a small slip of paper with several hand written notes on it. Her classes. Her locker combination. Her locker number.   
  
"Doomo- I mean, thank you." Katherine blushed Inu-Yasha didn't speak much English at home when he knew that Katherine was willing to learn Japanese, and so it had become habit for her to mix the two together when she wasn't thinking about it.   
  
"Well! aren't you just so polite!" the woman said in a sweet way, " You're very welcome.. Welcome to south bull." And then she went back to her stack of papers.  
  
Katherine, despite the fact that she had been told to go on to her classes once she got her schedule, waited for Inu-Yasha out in the hallway.   
  
A boy about her age walked by, and smirked when he saw her, in a cocky manner. "I thought we weren't allowed to have wheels in the halls." he snorted under his breath.  
  
this didn't go missed by Katherine, who blushed a bit, and waited patiently for her father to come out of the office.   
  
Inu-Yasha wasn't long. As a matter of fact, he came out of the door just as the boy was making his way past Katherine. No doubt he'd heard the snide remark and was on his way out to frighten the kid off. He looked down at Katherine, his gold eyes flickering for a moment before he spoke.   
  
"I thought you were told to go to class."  
  
"Did you- " Katherine began, and then the bell rang. She sighed, and slumped down in her chair. Inu-Yasha smirked a bit, and crossed his arms, " I suppose this means I'll have to take you to class." he snorted, " I see. che."  
  
Katherine made the sound back, " Keh. You don't have to daddy. I can go myself." she sighed, and moved her arms to push herself forward, but Inu-Yasha took the back of her chair, and pushed her instead.  
  
"I didn't say I wouldn't." he retorted coolly.   
  
in a moment, they were standing in front of the door for her first class.   
  
He looked down at her, " I'll see you this afternoon, alright?" he said, looking down at her.   
  
Katherine nodded.  
  
He gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "you'll be fine. Smile. Be confident. You're my daughter." he pulled himself up tall, and smiled down at her.  
  
she smiled back, " Hai, Hai daddy."   
  
with that, Inu-Yasha was gone, and Katherine took a deep, controlled breath, and let herself into the classroom.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Lunchtime came with little abandon. There was little to be done about the crowds of kids that gathered for lunch, and Katherine groaned. she'd totally forgotten about money for lunch! and she hadn't brought anything either! 'Damn it Daddy.. you were supposed to remind me!' she thought, and pulled herself out of the bustling cafeteria. 'I suppose it wont kill me.' she thought, putting a hand on her stomach without another thought of it.   
  
she rolled herself out to the front of the cafeteria, and sat in the sunshine. she liked the way it licked her bare arms, making her pale skin glow under it's rays.  
  
"So, I'm betting that there's nothing really wrong with her." came a voice from not to far from Katherine. She ignored it, not thinking about who the person was talking about.   
  
"Nothing wrong 'cept she's a retard.'"  
  
"Retard? Are you kidding? Have you heard her last name? Hanyou.. what a freak."  
  
Katherine blushed, knowing now full well who they were speaking of. However, she didn't let them see that it fazed her in any way.  
  
'smile. Be confident. You're your daddy's girl.' she thought, and drew herself up in her chair, 'nothing to worry about here. no sirree..'  
  
Something hit the side of her wheelchair, and she flinched visibly. Looking down she groaned out loud when she realized what it was that had hit her wheel. A rather nice glob of peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Nasty!  
  
she pursed her lips, 'proud, confident...' she kept repeating in her mind.   
  
"Ten points. " she heard.  
  
There was another sound on the side of her chair, and this time she dared not to look.  
  
"Hah. thirty." came the second voice.  
  
"I can beat both of ya." it was the sound of the boy who had remarked to her in the hallway, " watch this.."  
  
Katherine didn't even have time to put her hands on the sides of her chair before something hit her in the face, just in front of the ear.   
  
"fifty points! score!" came the boys voice.  
  
'proud.. confident...' she repeated in her head, just as her eyes began to burn like her cheeks were. She lifted a hand to remove the glob that had hit her in the face.  
  
"Katherine.." Inu-Yasha frowned, noticing Katherine's red flush. He clenched the bag in his hand tighter, " You let me forget to ring your lunch..." he said in a lower tone.  
  
Katherine didn't look up at him, and wiped off the glob from her face.   
  
It only took him a split second to locate the boys who were snickering not to far from Katherine and himself. Oh he'd take care of this... but not while Katherine could see him. She'd kill him.   
  
He asked her a question in Japanese, and she nodded, her face all but glowing red now, " I'm alright." she replied in English.   
  
He frowned deeper, "I brought you a sandwich." the words seemed stupid.   
  
"Arigatou, Daddy." Katherine said in a meek voice. She held up her hands for the brown paper bag, and looked up at him, her eyes watering.   
  
'Proud confident..' she thought.  
  
And then slumped in her chair, 'And crying. So much for that...'   
  
Inu-Yasha let out a growl. "It'll be alright, Katherine..." he said gently, and patted her shoulder. Then crouched down in front of her, " Are you enjoying school?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"With the obvious exceptions." he said.  
  
Katherine didn't acknowledge this.   
  
He smiled a bit, " don't worry about it. I'll see you after school, alright?"   
  
she nodded again.  
  
And then he was gone. Just as fast as he had appeared.   
  
Katherine rubbed her eyes with her thumbs so that she didn't look conspicuous. and then looked around the area through clouded eyes.  
  
No sign of Inu-Yasha.  
  
she looked down at the brown paper bag before her. She noticed that there were four tears in the top. He'd been clentching it pretty hard.  
  
She sighed heavily when she opened it though. Peanut butter and jelly, and an orange.   
  
she peeled the orange, and ate it without a second thought, right there in front of the cafeteria.   
  
'At least the orange was good.' she thought.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The rest of the day seemed like the longest one ever. The boys who had tormented her at lunch continued to do so during the rest of the afternoon. But Katherine ignored them the best she could.  
  
Even when one of them asked if her depth perception was so bad that she had to feed herself through her ear. more than two kids had laughed at this. There was still peanut butter no her face!  
  
Flushing blood red, Katherine rubbed it off the best she could in the girls bathrooms, and put her head against the cold sink.   
  
"proud and confident." she muttered out loud.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
After school, Katherine waited for Inu-Yasha out in front of the school, as other children boarded the different busses. He popped up behind her with a smirk on his face, " Hello Katherine, How was school?"  
  
Katherine jumped a bit when she heard him, and smiled, " IT was ok, Daddy." she lied.  
  
He knew she was lying.  
  
but that was ok.   
  
Meanwhile: the boy who had thrown the peanut butter sandwich at Katherine called for help from his position, tied up on the gym bleachers with peanut butter smeared all over his face.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: I know that in any situation where it would have been KAgome, IY Probably would have done something much worse than what he did here. I was trying to be reasonable. ~Kat 


	13. Bad luck to worse

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
chapter Thirteen: Bad luck to Worse  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Upon arriving home, Inu-Yasha left the room to get changed. When came back in, He was wearing his fire rate Gi. He looked a bit pleased with himself, and had that same cocky smirk he'd been wearing when he came to pick her up from school.  
  
Katherine looked up from the schoolbook in her hand, and peered at him, " why are you smiling like that?"  
  
He smirked, " no reason. I'm allowed to smirk if I want to." He crossed his arms and frowned a bit, " so other than the incident at lunch, how was school?" he leaned against the front counter.  
  
Katherine thought back to the day, and decided "I guess it was ok."  
  
He knew she was still lying. But that was alright too.  
  
"How did you job hunt go?"  
  
Inu-Yasha thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded, I suppose it went alright. "  
  
"and?" Katherine pressed.  
  
He smiled faintly, " Nothing yet, but don't worry. We'll be alright between now and then."  
  
Katherine nodded, " alright."  
  
Inu-Yasha took the cash box from it's hiding place, and looked into it. There was still a bit of money in it, but he had no idea how much. Money had really no meaning to him where he had been from, and Kagome had handled the finances till she passed away. And then, Dori took care of it.   
  
He shoved the box towards Katherine. "Here."  
  
"What?"  
  
He blushed, " Look.. I don't know how much is there. can you tell me?" he asked.  
  
Katherine blinked, " How.. much?" she was confused. she hadn't asked him how he had been able to afford the clothes for herself, or him either.   
  
"Keh! money. There's money in the box, and I'm not sure how much is there!" he said, in a bit of an exasperated tone.  
  
Katherine blinked, and looked at it. She opened the box, and her eyes opened wide.  
  
"wow." was all she could say. She wasn't sure how much was there either, but there were more than a half dozen hundreds, and that was a damn good start in her book.   
  
"Is that a good wow?"  
  
She nodded a bit, " It's a good start, daddy." she took out all the money, and her hand brushed over the box.   
  
Inu-Yasha watched her to see what she did, and didn't stop her when she removed the case from the box. As though in a trance, she opened it up, and stared at the Jewel before her. The tiny shard that Inu-Yasha had removed from her was laying in with it. Her blood was crusted around it. He obviously hadn't bothered to wash it.  
  
"Is this.. that.. jewel thingy that you talked about? The shikkon no tama?"  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " It's complete now."  
  
She felt her hands turn to ice, " What.. what are you going to do with it?"  
  
Inu-Yasha didn't answer. He'd asked himself the same question over the past few nights. "I'm not sure."   
  
"oh." Katherine shut the box without ceremony, and turned her attention back to the money. She counted it out slowly, and carefully, making sure she had it right.  
  
When he was done, half and hour later, Inu-Yasha was crouching next to her, " Well?"  
  
she made a face, " I think I must have mis-counted." she said slowly. and looked at the pile of bills in her lap.  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " why?"  
  
"I.. counted..." she frowned and made a face in thought, " well over twenty five hundred dollars.." there had been more hundred dollar bills tucked away at the bottom of the box.  
  
"Is that a lot?"  
  
Katherine looked at him, and shook her head, pulling her head back to be sure that she had heard him right, " You're joking right?"  
  
"I'm not Joking, Katherine. How much is there?"  
  
"I stopped after twenty-five hundred." she confessed, and looked at the pile of money in her lap, " but if I were to guesstimate, I'd say you probably have double that here."  
  
"Is that good?"  
  
Katherine gave him that same look, " Yes, Daddy. It's very good. It'll do well for us until you get a job."  
  
Inu-Yasha sighed a breath of relief, and sat on his rear, making a small bit of dust go up in the air. "Good." he murmured.  
  
Katherine smiled a little bit, and put her hand on his head. she brushed past one of his ears, and giggled. "you have neat ears, Daddy." she said in a soft voice.  
  
He made a low rumbling sound, and closed his eyes. There was a time that those ears were the cause of trouble for him. But now he was glad that he had them.   
  
they sat like that for a long time, before Katherine finally spoke up, " Daddy?"  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Why don't we just reopen the store?" she asked, looking around, " A good cleaning, and it would be perfect for business."  
  
HE thought about this for a moment. Was an antique store something that would be able to support him and a daughter? He knew that he could easily survive on his own. But Katherine on the other hand...  
  
He thought about it for a bit longer, and nodded, " alright.." he agreed, "I don't see why it wouldn't work."  
  
Katherine clapped her hands together in excitement.   
  
That afternoon, as Katherine worked on her homework, Inu-Yasha set about dusting, and cleaning, setting straight, and making sure everything would be in order. HE tried to remember what all Kagome had done to open the business when they first came to this strange place.   
  
Spotting a framed piece of paper hanging behind the counter, he took it down and looked at it.   
  
"Permit to operate business: Higurashi antiques" he read out loud, and then sighed, " It expired six months ago." he groaned, and sat down against the counter.   
  
Katherine, who had been listening to him as he went about his business, " Daddy? Why don't we just call city hall and ask them what it takes to reopen?" she asked.  
  
Inu-Yasha thought about this for a little bit, playing with some crystal figure as he did so. He could almost hear Kagome's voice, " Inu-Yasha! put that down! Do you know how much that thing would go for at auction? What if you break it?"  
  
He blinked, and looked at Katherine, " What about an auction?"  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
He made a face, " I hate to admit it, but reopening the store would only cause Rudy to come poking around. She knows where your granddad got me from. If we were to reopen, then wouldn't she come snooping around?" he asked.  
  
Katherine's face fell.   
  
"So.. what then?" she asked softly.  
  
He gritted his teeth. "What if we sold all the antiques, and with the money we got, moved to a house." the more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded. The place they were in now might have been comfortable, but he knew that there would come time when his memories would get the better of him, and he and Katherine might not be able to live there anymore. Besides? What would they do with the portion of the building that was supposed to be a store?  
  
Katherine thought abut this, " and change schools again?" she asked, scrunching her nose at the thought.   
  
"no.." Inu-Yasha shook his head, " no. Not change schools, just.. live in a different place. A house somewhere else."  
  
Katherine looked at Inu-Yasha, her dark eyes intense, " Daddy.. even with the money we have here, it's not nearly enough to buy a house! maybe pay the rent on an apartment until you get a job.. but not buy one.."  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " alright then. Then we go looking for one of these.. apartments. tomorrow." he said in a rather final way.  
  
Katherine blinked, and chuckled, " you forget. I have school until Friday. We can go looking tomorrow afternoon, but we'd be better off looking on Saturday."  
  
Inu-Yasha crossed his arms and huffed, " Keh. I can go and look by myself."  
  
"Do you know what you're looking for?" Katherine asked coolly.   
  
He snorted, " fine. Tomorrow after you are done with school."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The next day, at school, It was all Katherine could do to contain her excitement. She flowed through most of the morning, oblivious to the comments she occasionally from the boys who had picked on her the day before.   
  
However, after lunch came gym. The day before, They had been playing some sort of volleyball.   
  
Today, however, they were playing dodge ball. The gym teacher asked her if she wanted to sit it out. Katherine, blushing, asked politely if hitting her wheelchair counted.  
  
He thought about it, and nodded.   
  
She sat it out. sitting on the sidelines of the gymnasium, she watched the other kids as they ran about and dodged the ball from the other children.   
  
She sat, reading her history book until she heard several cries of " Watch out!" from in front of her.  
  
A red ball smacked her right in the face. Hard, no less, taking her breath away, as she reached up and touched her nose, tenderly.  
  
Tears welled up in her eyes. She saw, out of the blurriness, two boys, high fiving each other not to far from where she was. The gym teacher ran over and asked if she was ok, if she needed to see the nurse. But Katherine shook her head.   
  
"But.. you're nose is bleeding.." he responded, "Tilts your head back.."  
  
Katherine touched gingerly, and flinched when she realized that he was right. she blushed fiercely, as the pain began to come clear from her embarrassment.  
  
"Would you like someone to take you to the nurse?" he asked, concerned.  
  
Katherine shook her head,, " No. I can go. "  
  
HE wrote her out a hall pass, and let her go.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha was waiting for her out in front of the school, much like he had been the day before. She saw him before he saw her though, and sniffed, rubbing her nose gingerly just to make sure all the blood was gone. and then pasted a big smile on her face, " Are we gonna go looking for an apartment now!" she rolled up to him on the grass, and he sniffed.  
  
His eyes narrowed.  
  
He leaned over her, and for a moment, Katherine thought he was angry at her.  
  
"Who did it." he snarled.  
  
Katherine's eyes twitched from surprise, " What?"  
  
"Who did it. I can smell the blood on you." he was growling. Underneath his ball cap, his ears were flattened against his white hair.  
  
Katherine looked around, her eyes wide, and her cheeks flushed. She spotted him walking with a group of friends, " him." she whispered, her eyes darting to the boy.  
  
Inui-Yasha growled again, and turned swiftly. Katherine grabbed his arm, " what are you going to do?" she asked.  
  
"I'm going to teach the brat a lesson." he hissed, moving to jerk away from Katherine.  
  
"no! Daddy.. it was just an accident." she said quickly. To quickly.   
  
Inu-Yasha looked down at her, " an accident?" His eyes lightened a little bit when Katherine nodded. But not much. He frowned, and leaned back over her, "IF he ever touches you again, you tell me." he looked his daughter in the eyes.  
  
She nodded, blushing a bit. she had a feeling that if she ever told Inu-Yasha that the boy had hurt her again, she would soon be attending a funeral. And then explaining to the local authorities why it is that the dead boys body was covered in slashes from claws..   
  
"Promise." he demanded.  
  
Katherine hesitated, " Yes daddy..." she mumbled, looking down at her lap.   
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine stared at the roomy apartment that she and Inu-Yasha and the landlord were standing in. The walls were white, and the carpet was a dark green. The colors were bland, but the apartment was roomy enough that she could easily get around in her wheelchair. It was just a one bedroom one, but that was fine as far as the two of them were concerned.   
  
Not the best one they had seen all day, but certainly the most convenient (close to the school), and the most reasonably priced.   
  
"Katherine?" Inu-Yasha looked down at her, his gold eyes watching her for any signs of displeasure at the place.  
  
she smiled, " It's perfect."  
  
He nodded.  
  
They would move in that weekend.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy glared at the shop as she drove by it. The doors and shutters were drawn tightly against the building, as though it were afraid to allow in the sunlight, or prying eyes.   
  
She nearly ran into the car in front of her when she saw Katherine roll out of the front door, a box on her lap, and her hair wild in a messy ponytail. "Katherine!" she drew in a sharp breath.   
  
The turned the car around in a parking lot, parked it, and watched from her vehicle as Katherine and a rather tall man in jeans and a red t-shirt with long white hair loaded a taxi full of boxes and such. She frowned.   
  
'He's moving? Where is he taking her?' she wondered. an idea began to form in her mind.   
  
As they got into the taxi-cab, she started her car up, and drew out of the parking lot casually.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine smiled up at Inu-Yasha as they unloaded the boxes from the shop, into the new apartment.   
  
He had let Katherine go through the shop and keep what she liked (mostly books.) and they left the rest in the locked up shop to be sold at a later date.   
  
"You got that?" he asked, his eyes sharp on her.   
  
she nodded, and carefully cradled the box he had put in her lap.   
  
She explained to him how the elevator worked. They lived on the second floor, which would make things difficult if the power went out, as she could not get down the stairs in her wheelchair, but that didn't seem to really matter to either one of them as they put the last f the boxes in the living room.   
  
"Daddy?"  
  
Inu-Yasha looked over at her, " Hai."  
  
Katherine was sitting in front of the window, her brakes locked. "I.. " she blushed.  
  
Inu-Yasha sniffed the air. He could smell a slight panic from the girl, and was next to her in an inhuman flash. "What's wrong?" his voice was low.   
  
Katherine looked up at him, and pointed out the window, " It's Rudy's car." she whispered.  
  
Inu-Yasha looked down in the parking lot before them. He narrowed his eyes. "You're sure?"  
  
she nodded.  
  
HE growled low in his throat, and undid Katherine's brakes, pulling her back into the room. 'she's looking for Katherine.' he thought with a frown, 'She's not going to get her.'  
  
Katherine looked up at Inu-Yasha, " Daddy?"  
  
HE smiled in a strange manner at her, and then shook his head, " Help me unpack." he said firmly.   
  
she nodded, and did as she was asked, starting with her belongings. She stacked them in a corner of the room, neatly in their boxes as he began to put back together a shelf from the store. He cursed under his breath at the stubborn wood.  
  
Despite the fact that not another word was spoken about Rudy that night, neither one of them could shake the feeling of her being in the parking lot.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Saturday came with the chirping of birds, and a warm sunshine that flooded the apartment through curtain less windows. Katherine, sleeping on the futon that Inu-Yasha had brought form the apartment, made a soft sound, and raised her hand to block the rude sunshine from her eyes. She didn't want to get up just yet.   
  
She opened her eyes, however, and looked around.   
  
Inu-Yasha was in the next room, the living room, to be exact, and swearing in Japanese at whatever the project he was working on was.   
  
Katherine shifted, and with the limited strength she had regained in her legs, she managed herself upright.   
  
There was a shuffling at the door, suddenly, drawing the girls attention. "Ohayoo, 'Tousan." she said sheepishly, looking to his figure in the doorway.   
  
He nodded, " ohayoo, Katherine."   
  
She liked the way her name sounded when he said it. 'Kat-her-rin', and she smiled, her eyes lowering to the floor, " I was.."  
  
"Just going to get up without help right?" he said in a calm manner, " You've never gotten to your wheelchair on your own from the ground up." he didn't sound as though he were protesting, but rather, as though this would be a learning experience for the young girl.   
  
She blushed, and averted her eyes from the ground to her chair, and then to her Daddy, " I can do it." she said in a somewhat defiant tone.   
  
He nodded, with an expression that read 'I'm here if you need me.'.   
  
Katherine reached for her chair, her small hand grasping the wheel as she pulled the chair towards herself on the floor. The futon that she had been laying on, the thin mattress and pillow she'd been using had been comfortable, despite the fact that it had been on the floor.   
  
The put both her hands on the braked of her chair, and pushed them towards the floor. That done, she put her hands on the arm rests, and tried to pull herself upright, or at least, forwards a bit more, that it might be easier for her to get in the contraption.   
  
She pulled as hard as her small arms could manage, and soon, she had her upper body over the chair, and her knees a mere 3 inches from the ground. She was doing it! Just a bit further.  
  
Her arms gave way, and back to the futon she went.   
  
Inu-Yasha, who did not move when she fell back, arched an eyebrow. " You alright?" he asked.  
  
Katherine nodded, her face beet red from effort and embarrassment.  
  
"Need help?"  
  
She growled in her throat, something that Inu-Yasha had learned mean that she was too stubborn for whatever had just been suggested to her. He took it as a no, and did not move from where he stood in the doorway.   
  
She had her limitations, and as she was simply mortal, she was more than willing to try those limits to the maximum, to know what she could truely do if she tried, and what she simply could not.  
  
Three tries and fails later, she knew that even though she was so close, this was not something that she could manage on her own, just yet. Yet being the oporative word.   
  
She hung her hear, her eyes filling with hot tears of fury. 'why can't I do this!?' she demanded of herself. She brushed the tears away, and looked up to where Inu-Yasha had been. He wasn't there anymore, and his strong arms under hers shocked her a bit. She let out a soft squeak as he helped her into her chair. He crouched in front of her.   
  
" you tried hard."  
  
She hung her head. How was she ever going to take care of herself? How? how? How? She clenched her hands against her night gown.   
  
Inu-Yasha nodded. He understood. He'd been there once. Not able to do what he needed to survive on his own. But it would come with time. Time healed everything, made everything stronger, and weaker. It gave and took away. and with time, it would give her the strength to get around on her own.   
  
He petted her hair, and smiled weakly, " It's alright."  
  
She shook her head, " It's not fine." she said softly. But she said no more about it that morning.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: Rudy is a Bitch. We can't help that. IF there wasn't a bad guy, there'd be no story. ~Kat 


	14. Rudy's interferance

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
  
  
chapter Fourteen: Rudy's interferance.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy growled, and slammed down the hone she'd been speaking into. 'how DARE they!?' she demanded mentally, 'I'm her MOTHER!'   
  
She gathered her things. She'd seen them go into the apartment building. With boxes. they had obviously moved. Obviously into the building. And By God, come hell or high water, as it were, she'd find her daughter, and save her eternal soul from this demon. This. half demon spawn from hell.   
  
She charged to her car, and sped off.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine smiled a bit at the tea in front of her.   
  
"Kagome would have been able to teach you better than I." Inu-Yasha said with a slight frown, " She knew a lot about these things. Tea and cooking, and how to be a lady, and stuff like that."  
  
Katherine smiled softly, and looked up at her Dad, who sat cross-legged before her, his eyes drowned in thought. He'd long known the fact that he would never get Kagome back, but for some reason, the feeling felt worse recently. Now that he had a daughter that Kagome had always wanted to have.  
  
she reminded him of what Kagome's wishes were.   
  
It hurt. But at the same time, it felt good to have some part of Kagome with him. Even if she were not really his child.  
  
" I never really was much of a lady." Katherine said sweetly, and looked down at the cup again. It had no handles, like her grandmothers set had. How had he told her to hold it? she blushed, and reached for it.   
  
"Hand under the bottom." he said absently, " And Kagome wasn't very lady like when she was your age, I imagine. you're about the age she was when we met. I know she wasn't back then. but.." he let the word hang, " as she got older, she got more refined."  
  
Katherine thought for a moment, "My grandmother once told me that women are like wine, they get more refined with age." she handled the tea cup with gentle hands.   
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, his ears twitching to the sounds of the neighbors arguing. He sighed mentally. Did humans have to be loud all the time like that? Sure, he and Kagome had once had their fair share of spats, but not all the time!  
  
'Besides,' he thought, 'All she'd have to say was "OAWASARI!" and that was the end of the argument on her part!' he smirked at the memory.   
  
Katherine watched his ears, and smiled at them. She liked them. They made Inu-Yasha unique to her and only her. It was like a special thing to her.  
  
She suddenly felt her stomach grow hot. Then queasy. And then...  
  
Inu-Yasha stared at her, suddenly sensing the tense feeling from the girl. " Katherine?"  
  
"I feel sick.." she mumbled, touching her stomach tentatively.  
  
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment, "what does it feel like?"  
  
"Like.. someone just dropped coals in my stomach." she said with a groan. Her eyes narrowed, and became lidded.   
  
HE nodded, and thought back to when his father had given him his own blood. The same feeling had occurred to him not to long afterwards. Followed by...  
  
She vomited.  
  
He groaned mentally, and gritted his teeth. 'I forgot about that.' he confessed to himself.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine was sobbing softly as she wiped her face with the damp cloth that Inu-Yasha provided her from behind the doorway. She sniffled, and rubbed her hot face down with it. And vomited again.  
  
She chocked back another sob, and then managed a weak scream. There was blood in her vomit! Blood!  
  
Inu-Yasha barged in now, her panic and scream forcing him past the polite to stay away phase. The red substance that Katherine had vomited up was splayed all over the white countertop, and commode. He looked at her, " Are you ok?"  
  
"T-th... there's blood in it!" she was trembling all over, terrified of what was happening.   
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, and knelt down next to her, " Yes. I know."  
  
she stared at him, her terror evident.   
  
"It's alright. It's just my blood.. it's.." he tried to remember how his father had told him, " It's trying to make a place in your blood..."  
  
Katherine stared at him, " I.. don't understand.." she was feeling queasy again.   
  
Inu-Yasha sighed, and searched his mind for a more accurate way of describing it to her. " Ok.." he put a finger on his neck, against the blue vein. The pulse was strong and even. "It's like this. There's too much blood in your body right now, so the blood that you took from me if making room... um.. pushing out... some of your blood."  
  
Katherine's face paled.  
  
She clutched her stomach. "How long.." she couldn't finish the question.   
  
Inu-Yasha thought, Not too long. When it happened to me I think it took about three hours."  
  
"THREE-!" she vomited again.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy glared at the names on the metal plate before her. They'd just moved in the day before, so the most logical thing to assume would be that the one that had been taped up, the name " Hanyou ". She frowned. The second floor. That really made little sense, since Katherine would never be able to leave the apartment if the elevator wasn't working.   
  
However, she moved her finger to press the button and then yanked it back with a smile on her face as another tenant opened the front door. She simply followed in behind them.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha looked at the bathroom door, and arched an eyebrow. She'd be silent for a while. He knocked on the door, " you alright?"  
  
There was a soft groan to reply, and he nodded. " ok.."  
  
Just as he got back to his place in the living room, there was a banging sound on the door.   
  
He frowned. He'd heard someone shuffling down the hallway, but that was the downside to living in this apartment building. you could never tell if the person was on their way to see you, or if they were on their way to their own apartment, or what. He decided that when Katherine was ok enough to carry on a decent conversation with him, he'd inform her to keep the door shut and locked at all times.  
  
He moved to the door, and glanced through the peephole. There, ink all her furious glory, stood Rudy. HE smirked. if she thought he was going to let her in, she was insane!  
  
"I know you're there!" she shouted at the door.   
  
He smirked, " I'm sorry, I don't know who you are." he replied in a mock voice of someone else. The last thing he needed was for her to be stalking them.   
  
Rudy glared at the door in front of her, and snarled, " Bastard.. give me back my daughter."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
From in the bathroom, Katherine heard Inu-Yasha talking in a rather strange voice. she wiped herself up, and made sure that she rinsed out her mouth well before sticking her head out the bathroom door. "Tousan?"  
  
He put up his hand, and his ear flicked towards the door.  
  
There was a long silence, and then a deafening bang.  
  
Rudy was a bit desperate. So desperate in fact that she had flung herself, shoulder first, into the apartment door.  
  
Inu-Yasha jumped back, his claws bared, and teeth flashing. "what the hell does she think she's doing?" he hissed, mostly to himself. Katherine jerked a bit, back into her chair, her body weak from vomiting.   
  
Inu-Yasha growled ferally, and looked quickly to Katherine. His first and foremost duty now was to protect Katherine. His first instinct was to withdraw the Tetsuigua. Unfortunately, however, he was not to use it on a human life. He grabbed Katherine's chair by the handles, and pulled her out of the bathroom. HE looked down at her, and as though knowing what he was thinking, Katherine put her arms up to him.   
  
He picked her up with ease, and swung her onto his back. He slipped one of his arms under her rear, and gave but a moment for her to put her hands around his neck, before he raced out onto the balcony of the apartment. HE looked at Katherine, who had her eyes shut tightly. And then Jumped.  
  
Just as Rudy burst through the apartment door. She glared around the apartment.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha held Tightly to Katherine, as he raced along, his striding leaps into the air unbound by the laws of gravity. He sat atop the roof of the building, and crouched there for a time. Until he heard familiar sirens sounding.  
  
Apparently, the neighbors.. the ones that always fought, heard all the commotion, and had called the police.   
  
Rudy would spend her weekend explaining to a judge why she was breaking into a total strangers apartment.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine sat in her chair, rubbing her arms nervously, " that was too close."  
  
Inu-Yasha sniffed the air, " I can't figure out how she found us." he muttered bitterly.   
  
Katherine shook her head, " you don't know Rudy very well. Once she sets her mind... But I'm like you, I can't figure it out very well." she seemed bothered more by this than Inu-Yasha for the moment.  
  
He frowned down at this tea, and then took a deep breath, " Katherine."  
  
"Hai?"  
  
He looked at her levelly, " When you're at school.. keep an eye out for her. If she comes for you, you scream as loud as you can."  
  
Katherine blinked. She hadn't thought about this.   
  
"You're not allowed to go anywhere alone, either."  
  
She made a face. It wasn't that she ever did go anywhere alone, but.. the fact was that him giving her these restrictions made her worry. she knew that he was more than capable of protecting her. But the idea that he thought there were times he would be unable to un nerved her a bit.  
  
She nodded.  
  
Meanwhile, Inu-Yasha slurped down his Ramen noisily. HE looked at her, his golden eyes searching her over for a moment, "Don't worry." he said, and swallowed the noodles, " I wont let her take you away."  
  
Katherine raised an eyebrow from where she sat, and kept her eyes averted from Inu-Yasha, " Do you think that she will come again?"   
  
He was silent for a moment, " I don't think she's going to give up any time soon. But I've faced worse than her." The Sword at his side made a soft sound against his clothing, and Katherine averted her eyes to it. She'd seen Inu-Yasha use it before, and so it didn't surprise her that he had it with him.   
  
But the version of the Tetsuigua she had seen was.. so big…  
  
He must have known that she was staring at the sword, and looked down at it himself, " You know what this is?" he asked carefully.  
  
She nodded, " I've seen it before… In my dreams."   
  
Inu-Yasha clearly flinched at this. He wondered if she actually knew the true form of the Tetsuigua. He thought back, and could not remember a time that he had shown it to her. "Your dreams?"  
  
She nodded, " Yes. It was bigger than I am."  
  
He nodded, " It would be in it's transformed state, I suppose."   
  
Katherine nodded in agreement, though she wasn't sure why she did. Then her mind flitted to another subject, and she touched her stomach gingerly, " Daddy?"  
  
He looked at her without a word.   
  
"What is your blood doing to me?"  
  
He thought they had already gone through this. Hadn't they? "It's making ro-"  
  
"no. Besides that." Katherine interrupted.  
  
Inu-Yasha thought for a moment. He wondered if it were really a good idea to tell her what it was doing. Deciding that it were better for her to know it now than later, he nodded one time to himself, and tried his best to explain.   
  
"Well. It makes you and I a part of each other." He said in a simple manner, " Kind of like an unbroken link."  
  
Katherine thought about this for a moment, " What does it do?"  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled at her a bit, though it was really more of a smirk, " It'll help me to keep track of you. So that you wont get into trouble."  
  
"trouble?"  
  
His ears twitched at the way she said the word. Almost as though she were afraid he would find something out. He nodded, "Yes, " he repeated, " trouble. So that I know if you are in danger."  
  
Katherine didn't know what to think, or to say. She was a bit confused. She made a face, and looked down at her lunch, "Like.. what kind of danger?" she asked tentatively.   
  
Inu-Yasha looked away from her, so that their eyes were not meeting, and smirked, "Like if someone has injured or hurt you somehow. Or if you're scared."  
  
"I thought you already knew when I was scared." Katherine interrupted again.  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " I do. When you're around me I can… smell it…" he really didn't know a better way to put it, " but when you're away from me, I can't know until I'm with you again."  
  
The dark haired girl became quiet, suddenly, and played with her noodles, using her chopsticks to push them around. She still hadn't gotten used to the eastern utensils, and often ended up playing with more of her food than she ate. "I see."  
  
The white haired Hanyou looked at her from the corner of his eye, his head still turned away from her, " Stop that. It's rude." He reached over the small table, and put her fingers together over the chopsticks, "Like this." He said.   
  
And that was the end of the subject.  
  
Half an hour and a bowl full of cold noodles later, Katherine sighed, putting down her chopsticks, and leaning back in her wheelchair. "Tousan?" she asked.  
  
He looked at her, his mouth full of his second cup of noodles. God he could pack that stuff away. Katherine couldn't figure out where he put it all. "Hn?"  
  
She made a face, "Why did you give me your blood to begin with?"  
  
Now THERE was a good question, though Inu-Yasha dared not admit it. He thought back to that evening with the new shard, and shuddered at the sight of her in her own blood on the bed. He looked at her, his eyes hardened against the memory, " It was the only way I could think of to save you."   
  
"Save me?"  
  
"when you gave me the jewel shard in your dream, pressing my claws into you, you did it in real life as well… Don't you remember?" he asked.  
  
Katherine shook her head, " I remember the nightmare Vaguely, but not much after that." She confessed, But now her curiosity was piqued, " but how did your blood save me?"  
  
He looked at her, his eyes wide for a moment, and then calmly smiled, " It healed you."  
  
Katherine stared at him, " Pardon?"  
  
He smirked, " how hard is it to understand. Don't you know anything about demons?"  
  
Katherine blushed, " Rudy would never let me study such things." She said softly.  
  
Inu-Yasha blushed, and mentally smacked himself for being so smart with her. He stared at her, and blinked a couple of times, just to get the dust in his brain loose, and explained the best he could, " A demon is like a human. Except for a few base things. They live for a lot longer than a human. They can endure more emotionally, and physically. They're stronger, faster, and probably a bit smarter than most humans. And they can heal amazingly fast." He counted off the attributes on his fingers as though trying to remember a shopping list.   
  
"Not that much alike then, are we?" Katherine asked.   
  
Inu-yasha had never thought about this. He looked at her and smiled, " You and I are more alike than I once would have liked to believe." He confessed, " I'm half human, remember." He said tapping a claw to himself for good measure.   
  
Katherine tilted her head to one side, taking the way he looked in, and nodded, " ok. Do all Demons have animal ears?"  
  
Inu-Yasha looked a bit insulted for a moment, and snorted, " Keh. No. Just me. Because I'm Hanyou. Half and half. My Father was a powerful Dog demon. And my mother was human."  
  
Katherine thought about this again, " So your father was a dog?" she made a face that clearly stated what she was thinking. Inu-Yasha took care of that thought instantly.  
  
"He was a dog DEMON. Meaning that in his true form, he was probably a damn fearsome looking dog. At other times, however, he took on the form of a human, even though you could probably still tell that he was not human even then, if my brother is of any good measure." He made a gesture with his claws.   
  
"you have a brother?" Katherine leaned forward, her eyes getting that funny look that she sometimes got when she was reading a good fable.   
  
Inu-Yasha snorted, " Yeah, but don't get too excited. He only ever liked one human, and only barely tolerated Kagome and Dori. Everyone else was as good as kibble."  
  
Katherine blinked, and made a face, " are all demons like that then?" she asked.  
  
Inu-Yasha looked at her funny, " I'm half human, ain't I?" he asked.  
  
Ok, that had been a rather dumb question, even Katherine had to admit.   
  
"are there other half demons out there somewhere?" she asked carefully.   
  
Inu-Yasha thought about it for a long moment, and nodded slowly, " In my time, there were a few, though none of them were ever really interested in much of one world or the other. There were the fair share of good and bad. Same as every other race." He shrugged.  
  
Katherine nodded, " ok." This, at least, she kind of understood. After all, was it really a good idea to assume that all of one race or another was bad? Even though she had been raised in a strict Christian home, she knew that judging by appearances and family were wrong. She looked out the window and then at Inu-Yasha, " Daddy?"  
  
He lifted his face towards her, even though his eyes were still on his noodles.   
  
"Can we go to the park?"  
  
Now there was a question he hadn't been expecting. 


	15. Shopping, Yay

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
  
  
Chapter Fifteen: shopping. Yay.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha sighed at the fact that he had to put back on the constricting t-shirt, even if he did not change his pants. He grumbled something inappropriate, and yanked the red fabric over his head.   
  
Katherine was wearing the same clothes that she had worn to school the Friday before. She only owned, now, three outfits. The one that she had run away with Inu-Yasha in, and the two new dresses that Inu-Yasha had bought her for school. And the outfit she'd been wearing when she and Inu-Yasha had run away was Pajamas. So really, they weren't all that suitable for wearing out to the park.  
  
They had, after all, only bought the essentials for the time being.   
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " that's for school." He protested.  
  
Katherine shook her head, " I only own two dresses, Dad." She said in a short manner, " Otherwise, I wouldn't have worn it."  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " Then maybe instead of going to the park, we should go clothes shopping for you. " he sighed and took the back bars of her wheelchair in his hands, and shook his head, " Myself, I wouldn't really care if you were to wear the same dress everyday.. But Kagome would shoot me with a purifying arrow if she knew." He groaned to himself, and pushed Katherine in the direction of the elevator.   
  
A taxi ride later, they were standing in front of the local Shopping mall. Inu-Yasha decked out in his Hakama and a red t-shirt, with a black ball cap, and Katherine in her wheelchair.   
  
The question was, how were they going to buy her clothes without her being able to try them on?  
  
Katherine seemed to know without needing to be asked. She wheeled around the first store that they came to, and pulled several articles of clothing off the racks, putting them in her lap. While Inu-Yasha stood off to one side, his arms crossed, and his expression muted. He watched her bypass the more expensive clothing, and move to where the nice, but less expensive stuff was.   
  
She seemed drawn to the color red, like a moth to a flame, and it didn't take Much for Inu-Yasha to notice this. He'd known for a while now that her favorite color was red, but also that Rudy had not approved of her wearing a lot of it. Right now it seemed as though that was all she had in her lap. Red sweater, red dress with black flowers on it, red dress with white trim on it.  
  
Inu-Yasha moved up to her, and stood next to her and she shuffled through the clothing on the rack, "Are dresses all you were allowed to wear before?" he asked.  
  
Katherine nodded, " They're easiest to get on and off me."  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, "I see. So even though you can stand up for short periods of time now, it doesn't make a difference?"  
  
Katherine looked up at him. She honestly had not thought about this. She blushed, and shook her head, " I didn't think of that, really." She blushed. "but I don't know what size I wear."  
  
The woman behind the counter, not to far form them overheard this, " You don't know what size you are, dear?" she moved around towards them, a bit smile on her face, " Come here, then. Let me help you." She had a measuring tape in her hand, and a big smile on her face.   
  
She had Katherine lean forward in her chair, and sit up as straight as she could, "Now," she said sweetly, " Breath out." Katherine did as she was told, and the woman smiled, " Alright.. I'd say you wear a four.. but because you'll always be sitting down, I'll see if we have any fives. What kind of pants were you thinking?"  
  
"Something loose." Katherine said quickly, blushing, " I've never worn pants before, you see, and I can't imagine…" she blushed, and shut her mouth quickly.  
  
The saleswoman smiled, " I understand, you don't know what it would feel like to be constricted that much that fast. It's alright." She bustled off, and Katherine turned her attention to the rack nearest her again. It was full of light looking feminine blouses.   
  
Inu-Yasha looked down at Katherine, a half smile on his face. "You could get something that's not red, you know." He was joking, but Katherine turned dark like the dressed in her lap, and averted her eyes form the red blouse she had her hand on.  
  
The woman came back moments later with a stack of what must have been a dozen pairs of pants for Katherine to try on in the handicapped dressing room. Katherine hated the fact that the woman had directed her there firstly, but knew that it wasn't to be helped.   
  
She might have hated it, but until Inu-Yasha taught her to walk on her own again, it was her only choice.  
  
In the dressing room, She noted the bars around her, and the Big mirrors on all three sides of her. She blushed at her own reflection. She'd never looked at herself in such large mirrors before, and she suddenly felt small and insignificant. The wheelchair seemed to overpower her small being within it, and for a long moment, that was all she could see of herself.   
  
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook them away, remembering what Inu-Yasha had told her about being able to know when something was wrong with her. She didn't know if that included humiliation or not, but didn't want to risk it. She pulled herself up with her hands, and balanced for a moment as she yanked her dress up, and then flopped back into her chair with a puff of breath.  
  
She leaned over and pulled her pants up onto her legs. The pants themselves were a nice material, kind of heavy, and black. She smiled at the way the fabric looked against her. She stood up again, for a moment, and yanked the pants up before she flopped back again.   
  
'This will definitely make getting dressed in the morning a chore.' She thought privately. However, she did like the way that they looked on her. She didn't look quite so… so… Lost. Was that the word she was looking for? She doubted it, but that was how she felt. She didn't look nearly so lost in the chair she was sitting in, or the red fabric that was draped loosely over her.  
  
"Well, how do they fit dear?" the woman asked form the other side of the dressing room door, " Why don't you come out and let us see?"  
  
Katherine blushed, and backed up her chair so that she could come out of the dressing room.  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled to himself knowingly. She did look much better in those pants than the dress she had been wearing. She liked the red dress, of course, but he thought she looked a bit more mature in the black pants.  
  
"well, that's certainly a change, isn't it, darling?" the woman asked with a big smile, " you look Fabulous!"  
  
Katherine blushed at the compliment, and looked at Inu-Yasha, who looked as though he wanted to say something along the lines of " I told you so." However, he nodded, "they look good, Katherine." He said. And that was that.  
  
Pants it was.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy glared at the officer, and sighed, explaining again what had happened. Not that the officer believed her, but when she said that she could produce witnesses, he was forced to think twice.  
  
He nodded, " alright.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
There seemed to be some sort of foreboding the following Monday, as Katherine prepared herself for school. The air inside and out was chilly, and damp, the thought of oncoming rain seemed to be on everyone's mine, though the sky didn't look threatening. The cloud cover was light, and gray, with small patches of blue here and there. But everyone was grabbing their umbrella's anyhow, just in case.  
  
Katherine rolled out into the living room, and looked at Inu-Yasha, who was standing at the window. He looked at her, and smiled a bit, " Ohayoo, Katherine." He said softly.  
  
She replied in turn, and sighed softly, " Dad?"   
  
He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Do I have to go to school today?"  
  
He nodded, " of course."   
  
Katherine nodded, and pulled her backpack into her lap, making certain that she had her homework and everything she needed for the day with her. She was wearing the black pants she had first tried on the day before. They'd bought her three pairs, along with a few more dresses. Katherine was more than satisfied with that.   
  
Inu-Yasha stood next to her as she zipped up her bag.   
  
" oi. You ready?" he asked.   
  
Katherine nodded, " Hai."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: another short chapter. ~Kat 


	16. The appearance of Shippo!

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
  
  
Chapter Sixteen: the appearance of Shippo!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The school was bustling when they arrived, even though there was a strange buzz of energy in the air. Katherine made a face, and looked up at Inu-Yasha. He looked down at her, and smiled a bit, reassuring her, sensing her discomfort. "It's ok." He patted her on the head once, and crouched down in front of her, " you have your lunch?"  
  
Katherine nodded, " It's in my bag." She motioned with her hand.   
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " I'll be here after school."  
  
"You going job hunting today?"  
  
He nodded, " If we get lucky, I'll have one tonight."  
  
Katherine kissed his cheek, and then rolled off down the pavement to class.   
  
Inu-Yasha frowned to himself as he made a mental note that the boy she had said bloodied her nose came up behind her, not to far behind. However, for the moment, it seemed that it was alright. He didn't seem prepared to do anything. And if anything, it seemed he was preoccupied with something else.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine raised her hand, and the teacher called on her, " because people back then were not sure that electricity was safe." She said.  
  
The teacher nodded, " That's right.. Back then, even though it was the innovation of it's time, there was no guarantee that…" the teacher continued on, but Katherine barely heard. Her eyes were suddenly drawn to the window. Sitting on the sill just outside the glass was a rather large, rather deformed looking… thing? Rat perhaps.   
  
But it didn't look as though it were malicious. Katherine blinked a couple of times as it stared at her with rather large looking eyes. It looked almost…  
  
"Miss Hanyou?"  
  
She jerked her attention to the front again.   
  
"the answer please?"  
  
Katherine blushed, and hung her head. She hadn't been listening, and had been caught no less. There were several giggles in the classroom, and she blushed even more so, her face turning as red as the blouse she was wearing.   
  
"Um.. " she fumbled in her mind for a moment. They had been talking about electricity, right so what could the answer be? Well there were only a billion questions that could have been asked. "Benjamin Franklin?"  
  
The teacher sighed, "I suggest you pay more attention in class. The correct answer is Alessandro Volta. " He continued to write notes down on the board, " In 18oo, nearly 50 years after Benjamin Franklin…"  
  
Katherine shot a fleeting glance back out the window, to see if the rat thing was still there. It wasn't. However, it wouldn't be the first time that day she would see it.   
  
The rain that people had been fearing all morning began to fall just after lunch, and disappointed kids gathered in the gymnasium for what should have been a pretty decent 20 minutes of freedom. It was here that Katherine saw the deformed rat again. She stared at it with dark eyes, and watched it as it skittered across the floor just under peoples feet in the bleachers. It stopped just in front of the door. Looked one way. And then another. Crouched down. And Just as Katherine thought it was going to jump up or something, there was a small puff of smoke, and a small boy with a rather large pouf of a tail.   
  
Katherine had to look twice to make certain she hadn't just been hallucinating. She wheeled through the crowd with pretty decent ease, and closer to the door where she had seen the boy come out of nowhere. However, when she got there, there was no sign of the boy anywhere. She looked around, her eyes narrowed for some sign of the rat or the boy, or something out of the ordinary.   
  
She got nothing.   
  
A kid turned around and looked at her, eye to eye. His own eyes were blue, and his hair was a reddish brown. He smiled at her a little bit, " Hi."  
  
Katherine smiled weakly, and waved back shyly. "Hi."  
  
He peered at her, smirked, and then walked off. Something was sticking out of his back pock- Katherine narrowed her eyes, and grabbed the tuft of hair tightly.   
  
"Gotcha, ya little bugger." She whispered.  
  
The boy jerked around, and glared at Katherine with narrowed, " Let go." He hissed.  
  
Katherine shook her head, " I think not." She smirked, " You got me in trouble earlier."  
  
The little boy crossed his arms, and snorted, " I Don't know what you're talking about."  
  
The dark hair girl used one hand to wheel herself closer, " You were that little rat on the windowsill outside of my history class. You got me in trouble." She whispered so that no body would hear her, " I saw you change over here a minute ago."  
  
The boy paled visibly, and yanked the tuft back. He put his fingers to his lips, and furrowed his brow, " Shhh…" he whispered, and led her back to where they had been a moment earlier, " You weren't supposed to see that."  
  
Katherine glared, " You got me in trouble!"   
  
The boy rolled his eyes, " Look, it's not my fault you were paying more attention to me than your lesson!" he crossed his arms again, " And I'm on a really important mission, so don't mess with me."  
  
"Oh really?" Katherine arched an eyebrow at him, in the same manner she had started to mimic from Inu-Yasha," What's that? To get kids in trouble during class? What are you, some sort of imp?"  
  
The boy looked seriously insulted, " Look you! I'm a fearsome powerful fox demon!"  
  
Katherine's heart rate jumped about ten beats, and she let go of him with a start, " Really?" she asked softly, suddenly feeling meek. She remembered the conversation with Inu-Yasha before.  
  
He smirked and nodded, " now get lost before I eat you up!"  
  
Katherine stared at him, and blinked, " Eat me?" she stared more, and then began to giggle.   
  
The boy stared, " wha… what are you laughing at!" he demanded.  
  
"You? Eat me? You don't look like you could even eat a whole pizza, not to say an entire human!" she chortled, and stifled her laughter behind her hand, " I'm sorry, it's just so cute!"  
  
He stared at her, jaw open, " now look, you.."  
  
"Katherine."  
  
He blinked, " Nani?"  
  
"Katherine." She repeated, and then realized he's asked her what in Japanese "Katherine Des." She said politely.   
  
The boy stared at her, gaping like before, and then shook his head, " You know Japanese?" he asked.  
  
"I'm still learning. My Dad's teaching me." She said simply, and put her hands out palms up, " I have a long way to go."  
  
The boy narrowed his eyes, and made a face, " Your teacher in class. He called you "Hanyou." Why?"   
  
Katherine blinked, and thought for a long moment. She hung her head and blushed.  
  
The boy stared, " are you?"  
  
"Am I what?"  
  
"Hanyou."  
  
"Hanyou?" Katherine lifted her face and looked at him, " Oh. You mean a half demon? No. It's the last name that Dad-" she stopped. Why was she telling this to this little supposed demon? "the last name of my dad."  
  
The boy looked around, and then at Katherine, "Your dad? But you're not Hanyou? "  
  
Katherine shook her head, " No. I'm human… so far as I know anyhow." She didn't make mention of the blood Inu-Yasha had imbued her with.  
  
The boy made a face, " My name's Shippo." He scrunched his nose, and sniffed, " and you smell like you've been around a demon."  
  
Katherine blushed, but said nothing.   
  
Shippo looked her over, and shook his head, " and you don't look anything like her anyhow."  
  
"Her?" Katherine was confused, " the demon you're looking for?"  
  
Shippo snorted, " If I called Inu-Yasha a girl, he'd pummel me into the ground."  
  
It was Katherine's turn to gape. Her eyes widened at the mentioned name of her adopted father. "Inu- Inu-Yasha?" she repeated carefully.  
  
  
  
Shippo nodded, " Yes, Inu-Yasha. Do you know him?"  
  
Katherine stared at him, and gulped softly, " Who are you to him?" she was trembling all over, afraid that she had just made a mistake.   
  
  
  
Shippo looked at her, " Do you know him or not?" he demanded.  
  
"who- who are you to him?" Katherine ground out softly, " tell me?"   
  
Shippo frowned, " I'm an old friend of his." He said carefully. This girl was just too strange.  
  
"A friend? From where?"  
  
Shippo glared, " What are you, his secretary?" he demanded, " If you really must know, I'm from Japan. I'm a friend of his from back home."  
  
"In the Feudal era?" Katherine managed in a weak voice.  
  
Shippo stared, "What?"  
  
"You hear- you heard me.." she stammered.  
  
Shippo nodded, watching the girl from the corner of his eye. She looked as though she were just going to die right then and there.   
  
It was then that the bell took the opportunity to ring. Katherine pulled her chair back, and gulped softly, " Meet me in front of the school after the last bell rings." She said, and then wheeled off.   
  
Shippo stared, his mouth open.  
  
"How is it that I always get deserted?" he muttered bitterly.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha flinched during one of his interviews. There was a sudden fear in his stomach. A sudden jolt of feeling that shocked him. However, it soon gave away to a sick feeling. As far as he could tell, Katherine had not been hurt in any way, but had, instead, been extremely startled by something.  
  
The interviewer smiled at Inu-Yasha, " With all that experience, sir I can honestly say that you are the most qualified person we've had in for this job all week."   
  
Inu-Yasha smiled as politely as he could manage. "thank you."   
  
'I feel like I'm being hired to be someone's lap dog.' He thought with a mental growl. However, when the employer stood up to shake his hand, he knew he had the job. At least he was that much closer to being able to support Katherine.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Shippo mumbled something unattractive under his breath as the rain drizzled down on him, while he waited for Katherine in the form she's caught him in earlier.  
  
He saw her wheeling slowly up the sidewalk towards him, her hair drenched down to her shoulders, and her blouse and pants soaked. She smiled weakly at him, when she saw him, and got to him quickly as she could.  
  
"We should wait under the awning." Katherine said simply, and pointed to a drier place.  
  
"Wait? For what?"  
  
Katherine looked down at Shippo, " Inu-Yasha." She said softly.  
  
Shippo looked up at Katherine, " So you DO know him." He said sharply.  
  
Katherine nodded, " Yes.." she said softly.  
  
'that explains why she smells like him.' Shippo thought. He sniffed again, tentatively. Yes. She certainly did smell like him. It was pretty odd. 'And she smells SO strongly of him, too.' He thought, his small face furrowing into a frown. His English was not well enough that he understood the kids that milled about on their way to the busses that would take them home, or the kids that stood under umbrella's waiting for parents to come and pick them up.  
  
After all, Kagome had not really taught him any more than she, herself knew before she and Inu-Yasha moved to this place. This 'New country.'   
  
And now, after all this time, he was forced to come back to this time to come looking for them. He clenched his small fists together in front of him.   
  
He really wasn't sure how much time had passed since the last time he had seen Kagome and Inu-Yasha. He knew that in the Feudal age he lived in, only a few years had passed. After all, the well had been sealed for a long time. Until Miroku came to Kaede's village, his hair flying wild in the spring wind, announcing that something at the well had changed. The energy that had not come from the well in so long, had begun to glimmer and spark again.  
  
Until, finally, Shippo managed to get through to the other side.  
  
He'd gone looking for Souta instantly, knowing that Kagome had gone to 'America'. Souta was nowhere to be found, unfortunately, and Shippo didn't know what else to do other than to hide in someone else's luggage at the nearest airport. At least he knew enough on how to get there.  
  
But locating Inu-Yasha and Kagome had been a real bitch. The plane he'd taken had landed in New York. He needed to get to Chicago dammit! So he'd waited until he could sneak onto another flight. When he finally got to Chicago, tired and hungry, he snitched a couple of fruits from a local store. Caught a cat-nap on a rooftop. And then continued to look for Inu-Yasha and Kagome.  
  
Of course, it had been over a week since he got to Chicago, and with no sign of Kagome and Inu-Yasha, or the store that they sometimes spoke of when they came back to the past to visit… Shippo hadn't been able to think of anything else to do.  
  
So he just stared to look everywhere he could think of.   
  
And then, just that morning, as he was walking by the school, he caught a really strong, recent scent of Inu-Yasha. It faded after a while, suggesting that he had taken to tree's or rooftops. However, there was still a lingering scent in the building he'd discovered this strange girl.  
  
Katherine caught him staring at her with large blue eyes, deep in thought.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
He shook his head, " nothing." And Just what was that wheeled chair she was always in, anyhow?  
  
He peered at her again, from the corner of his eye, taking in the wheels, and the foot pedals.  
  
"It's a wheelchair." She said softly, over the patter of the rain on the concrete, " I can't walk, so this helps me get around." She explained without him asking.  
  
Shippo blushed, "You can't walk?" he asked, as though he hadn't heard right, " how do you survive?"  
  
Katherine smiled weakly, " It's hard sometimes."  
  
"You know quite a bit of Japanese. For a Foreigner. " Shippo said coolly.   
  
Katherine smiled weakly, " My dad taught me."   
  
Shippo frowned. She smelled like Inu-Yasha. And she was waiting for him, and not her dad… Unless he had completely missed something. "What's your dad look like?"  
  
Katherine smile weakly.  
  
"Oi! Katherine!" Inu-Yasha's voice rang across the school ground, through the rain. He strode towards her, soaking wet, the ball cap covering his ears the only thing that kept the rain from his eyes. He stopped suddenly, his eyes fixating on Shippo, " Shippo.." to say he was surprised was an understatement.  
  
"Daddy!" Katherine smiled, and wheeled herself out into the rain towards him, " He says that he is a friend."  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " Shippo, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Daddy? I should be asking what you've been DOING?" Shippo smarted back, " last I heard, you only had one son, and that was what.. three years ago? How can you have a daughter this old!?"  
  
Inu-Yasha blinked, " What? Kagome and I haven't been to the bone eaters well in.. well.. decades.." he looked down at Katherine, " this must be why you were so uptight earlier."  
  
Katherine blushed, and her mind fixated on the blood he'd given her. She nodded, " N." she managed softly.  
  
Shippo frowned, " Decades?"  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned. "come on." He started to wheel Katherine through the drizzling rain.  
  
"Where's Kagome!" Shippo asked, jumping up into Katherine's lap.  
  
Inu-Yasha gulped softly. Why was it that just when he thought he was starting to heal… "She passed away.. about.. 15 years ago."  
  
Shippo froze in Katherine's lap, his fur getting wetter and wetter with every raindrop that hit him. "..K-…Ka-go-me…" he trembled, " no! you're lying!"  
  
Inu-Yasha suddenly stopped, yanking up the little fox demon up by the tail, " I wish I were lying you little brat!" he growled, " Kagome's been dead for years now. And Dori passed away a few months ago, ok? I wish it were all a lie, I really do, but it's not."  
  
Shippo wailed.  
  
Katherine said nothing. She had never met Kagome, herself, and so, couldn't feel the same remorse as the little kit in her lap. However, she wrapped him up in her arms, and held him tightly, " I'm sorry.." she whispered, " It'll be ok.."  
  
Shippo stopped and looked up at her, " No.." he sniffed, " It wont.."   
  
Katherine nodded, " I lost both my parents when I was young, and I know, that it will be ok."  
  
Shippo frowned, " What? But you called Inu-Yasha 'daddy'.." he started  
  
Inu-Yasha snorted, " I adopted her."  
  
Shippo stared up at Katherine.   
  
  
  
Authors note: and now we find out the truth about Kagome... 


	17. The bully changes fate

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
  
  
Chapter seventeen: The Bully Changes Fate  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A few hours, and a tub full of tears later, Katherine was listening to Inu-Yasha explain to Shippo how he and she had run off from Rudy.  
  
Shippo frowned, " Wait.. naraku? But he's dead!" he said, his eyes wide.  
  
Inu-Yasha sighed, " Remember though that a part of Naraku was still human, though." He said bitterly, " Human souls have this tendency to come back and haunt, remember? They aren't like us. They don't just die and get it over with." He snorted, " anyhow, he wanted the jewel shard that Katherine had in her body."  
  
Shippo looked at Katherine, " Jewel shard? You mean.. the last one?" he asked, his eyes wide.  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " Yeah.. "  
  
"Where is it? Is it still in you?" He looked pointedly at Katherine.   
  
Katherine shook her head, and touched her stomach lightly, in memory of the nightmare. " No. Inu-Yasha has it."  
  
The fox demon set his eyes hard on Inu-Yasha, " and you haven't used the jewel yet!" he demanded, " You could bring Kagome back with it!"  
  
Inu-Yasha took a deep breath, and exhaled, " I know."  
  
Shippo glared.  
  
He sighed, " It's complicated, Shippo.."   
  
"how complicated can it be! 'I wish to have Kagome back!' you can't really screw up on that Hanyou!" he snapped bitterly. He was all but screaming now.  
  
"She would be soul-less." Inu-Yasha said, pounding Shippo on the head with his fist, " She'd be like how Kikyo was. Empty and wandering, always needing souls to live. It would be an insult to her memory."  
  
This seemed to make the smaller demon think. HE frowned. "then why can't you wish for things to be back to how they were before?"  
  
"And relive the past 60 years in permanent de'ja'vu? " asked Inu-Yasha, his brows raised.  
  
Shippo glared, " There has to be a way!"  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " I know."  
  
"then.. then.." Shippo stammered.  
  
Katherine took up the kit in her arms, and petted him on the head gently, " It'll be alright. Daddy'll know what to do when the time comes." She assured him gently.  
  
Shippo sobbed against Katherine's stomach, and heaved a sigh, " Then I came all this way for nothing.." he cried.  
  
Katherine smiled softly, " not for nothing. You got to see Inu-Yasha again." She smoothed his hair down, " and besides. You're the first cute Demon I've ever seen." She smiled weakly.  
  
Shippo looked up. He sighed softly, and curled up against her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy glared at the doorway. "He's up there. In this apartment." She pointed to the nameplate on the door. The officer nodded, and moved towards it, pressing the button. He heard the buzz as it reverberated through the wires.  
  
Inu-Yasha jumped in shock when the buzzer rang, and his hand flew to his sword handle. He looked around for the source of the obnoxious sound.  
  
"I'll get it." Katherine smiled a bit, and wheeled over to the intercom, " Hello?" she pressed the listen button, and waited for a moment.  
  
'My name is officer Filtch, Chicago PD. I'm looking for a miss Katherine-" he was cut off by the girls voice crackling back, " I'm sorry, there is no one here by that name."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Rudy flinched, and growled, " That's her!"  
  
The officer frowned, and let himself into the building without another word.   
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha frowned, " The police?"  
  
"Rudy must have called them." Katherine felt a knot of panic in her heart, " I would imagine since there was no reply that they've either tried another door, or they're on their way up."  
  
"they?"  
  
"Well, there might be more than one."  
  
Shippo blinked, " Rudy? That's your mom right?" he frowned, " the mean one?"  
  
Katherine didn't reply. She was trying to think of a way to get out without being seen. She didn't have to voice her fear. Inu-Yasha could feel the sick feeling creep up inside of him from her, and combined with his own, it was almost maddening.   
  
He grabbed Shippo, " Foxfire." He hissed.  
  
Shippo, as though reading Inu-Yasha's mind nodded, " Of course.. I AM A kitsune, you know."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The police officer banged on the door only a moment later.  
  
Rudy blinked in surprise when a young woman, looking similar, but not quite like her Katherine answered the door. Walking. "Can I help you officer?" she asked in rough English.  
  
The officer looked at Rudy, " Is that her?"  
  
Rudy frowned, " No.. but I know that they were here!" she protested.  
  
The officer nodded, and looked at the young woman, " May we come in please, ma'am? Just a quick look around."  
  
The young woman allowed them within the apartment.   
  
Katherine held her breath from her seat inside the bathtub, and listened as the officer searched around the apartment. He opened up the bathroom door, and took a peek inside. He obviously knew that a wheelchair could not be fit into a tub, because he didn't check to see if anyone was in it.  
  
Even though she thought she was going to die when she heard him shuffling around.  
  
"Sorry about that, Ma'am.."  
  
Rudy glared. "But.. but.."  
  
"Are you sure you didn't just mistake that woman for your daughter?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha leapt back onto the balcony outside form his perch on the one above, and looked at the young woman. "You did damn good."  
  
There was a small popping sound, and Shippo sighed, transformed back into his own form, " that was harder than I thought it would be."  
  
Katherine let out a breath of relief.  
  
Inu-Yasha came into the bathroom, and opened the tub curtain, " You alright?" he asked, as he pulled the folded wheelchair out from next to her.  
  
Katherine nodded, "Yeah, I'm ok." She trembled a bit as Inu-Yasha lifted her back into her chair with ease.  
  
Shippo frowned, " Does that happen a lot?" he asked, his arms crossed.  
  
Katherine sighed softly, " Rudy.." she looked up at Inu-Yasha, and wheeled herself out of the small room. Shippo sat calmly in her lap, and thought for a moment. HE looked at Inu-Yasha, but kept his words and thoughts to himself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine was sleeping peaceably for the moment, tucked underneath the blanket that Inu-Yasha gave her. It had once been Dori's, but he didn't tell her that. Inu-Yasha sat in the living room, his ears perked, in case he heard Katherine call or some such. Not that she ever did. He got the distinct impression that at times, she felt herself to be a nuisance.  
  
He couldn't bring himself to agree with that thought, but he knew better anyhow, and tried to make her feel as though she were doing well on her own, even though sometimes she needed more help than he wanted to admit to himself.   
  
Shippo looked at him from across the table, his tea balanced in his hand perfectly, as he thought about the situation.  
  
"What are you going to do with it then?" he asked softly. The 'It' he was referring to was obviously the Jewel, and it's remaining Shard.   
  
Inu-Yasha was silent for a long moment, and then he sighed, " I don't know." The truth was, that he really didn't. He knew that if he wished for everything to be as it was before, and for Kagome to live as long as he, that it would still make him miserable. He'd think about Katherine every moment of the day, and that wouldn't be fair to the young girl who had grown so attached to him.  
  
Shippo frowned, " You know that you could bring Kagome back without any hitches."  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded. "I suppose so."  
  
"So then what's stopping you!" Shippo demanded coldly, " It's like you don't love her!"  
  
Inu-Yasha grabbed the smaller demon by the throat, and glared, " don't you ever. Say. That. Again." He ground out from behind clenched teeth. HE threw the smaller youkai across the room without any effort, and Shippo landed on his feet, "so you obviously miss her.. that in it's self is an excellent reason. What's holding you back!" he demanded, tears welling up in his little eyes.  
  
Inu-Yasha sighed, and shot a fleeting glance at the bedroom from where he sat.  
  
Shippo stared, " No way." His eyes grew wide, " Her?" he asked in shock.  
  
Inu-Yasha sighed, " Look.. A while back this old hag put a curse on me, ok? She turned me into a doll until I got a daughter… Katherine broke the curse. She might not be my biological daughter… but she's like one to me, you see?" he sighed, and leaned against the wall behind him.   
  
Shippo stared at Inu-Yasha wide eyed, " They why don't you just wish it?" he asked.  
  
Inu-Yasha looked at Shippo in a strange manner, and then sighed deeply, " I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but she's not really able to get around very well…"  
  
Shippo nodded, " Yeah? And?"  
  
Inu-Yasha glared.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"School…" Katherine explained again, as she pulled the brush through her hair.  
  
"Kagome was really big on School. What's it like?" Shippo bounced up into her lap.  
  
Katherine shrugged, " Long." She said softly, and then, satisfied with her hair, she put down her brush, and looked at the little fox demon.  
  
He smiled up at her.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine hadn't been lying when she said that the school day was long. Shippo sighed, and rolled over on his other side as the breeze from the balcony door brushed over him.  
  
Inu-Yasha was sitting on the floor not to far from him, seemingly deep in thought.  
  
His head suddenly jerked up, " Katherine…" he whispered.  
  
Shippo turned around suddenly, "Where?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine backed up her chair a bit as the boy loomed over her, " You know what your freak father did to me?"  
  
Trembling, Katherine shook her head, " no.." she whispered.  
  
The boy reached down, grabbed her by the arms, and gave her one force yank from her chair. She fell to the ground, sprawled out on her stomach.   
  
He smirked at her, and pulled back his foot, kicking her in the stomach. Katherine moaned in pain. The thought of her father knowing what she could feel was painful, and she tried to block the pain and hurt from her mind as much as possible.   
  
The boy kept kicking though. And kicking. And kicking.  
  
And just as his foot came towards her face, and Katherine knew that she was going to die from the impact, everything stopped.   
  
She opened her eyes, her tears fogging up her vision.   
  
"Urk!" Katherine looked up, to see Inu-Yasha, Fire rate GI and all, standing in front of her, his sword drawn towards the boy who had been tormenting her.  
  
"So you like to pick on girls do you?" he barked.  
  
The boy stared at Inu-Yasha, who's ears were flicking in the air, waiting for sounds. He must have heard her small gasp, because without looking back at her, he asked gently, " are you alright, Katherine?"  
  
She nodded, even though he couldn't see her, and managed a slight, " I.. I'm fine.." The truth was that she was in a hell of a lot of pain. But she was more aware of her Inu-Yasha's presence here than that.  
  
The boy stared, and managed to stammer out an insult, although Katherine was sure that there was no threat to back up the insult. After all, if you ended up staring eye to chest with a rather powerful looking man in ancient clothes, and a sword bigger than you were, would you be in any position to threaten?  
  
Katherine saw, from where she lay, a small puddle form on the ground.  
  
She blushed. 'Oh my God.. he's wetting himself!' she thought, and threw her hand over her mouth before she said anything stupid.  
  
Inu-Yasha smirked, " You aren't as tough when you have to fight a man, are you?" he leaned forward, and the boy just stared on with wide, terror filled eyes. The bully backed up a couple of steps, and then turned to run off, but not before he managed out a weak. " You'll regret this, Hanyou!"  
  
Inu-Yasha stepped forwards in a menacing way, and growled.  
  
The boy ran like hell.  
  
Katherine let herself fall against the pavement. She panted softly, and began to cry, " I'm sorry Tousan… I'm sorry…"  
  
Inu-Yasha arched an eyebrow at her, and looked down over her, " are you alright?"  
  
Katherine nodded weakly, but didn't try and move. She shook her head, and made a face, " I feel like I've been hit by a truck."  
  
Inu-Yasha leaned over, and offered a hand, " come on.."  
  
She took his hand, but didn't have the strength to pull herself up.  
  
He picked her up gently, and looked her over, " You look.. bad.." he managed.  
  
Katherine shook her head, " Nah.." she smiled weakly, "I'm good."  
  
Inu-Yasha nodded, " we're leaving…" he said flatly.  
  
"but, I still have four classes.."  
  
"It' doesn't matter. This isn't going to happen again." He said flatly.   
  
"Inu-Yasha!" Shippo came running up, a bit out of breath, " you run like lightning!" he panted, " Is she ok?" he looked up at the girl in Inu-Yasha's arms and frowned, " What happened!"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: The chapter is called this because if it weren't for the evil bully, things wouldn't have changed like they do in the next chapter... ~Kat 


	18. The end comes in the past

The Half Human Doll  
  
Katina Ashton  
  
wildflowerkitten@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
Warnings: If you don't like AU this isn't for you. This had virtually no Kagome in it till the end. I'm sorry guys, but that's the way this goes. Lots of Inu-Yasha though. VERY VERY AU. You have been warned.  
  
  
  
Chapter eighteen: the end comes in a Tree  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The C.N.A. looked at Inu-Yasha in a strange manner, " no sir, you don' understand.. You can't take her from the hospital. And her mothers orders are that only family can visit her."   
  
"I AM family! That stupid woman is not her family!"  
  
"That stupid woman is her mother sir.. and what member of her family are you?"  
  
Inu-Yasha glared, " I'm her father!"  
  
The C.N.A. stared at him, and backed up, " Sure you are…"   
  
  
  
  
  
Shippo looked at Inu-Yasha, " no luck I take it?"  
  
Inu-Yasha growled, " That's about to change." He stormed off away from the hospital. Katherine had indeed been hurt. She'd broken two ribs, and had to get stitches on a place on her arm.   
  
"What are you going to do?" Shippo asked, hopping up onto Inu-Yasha shoulder.  
  
The Hanyou looked at the smaller demon, "Pretend to be stuffed." He demanded.  
  
Shippo glared, " what?"  
  
"You heard me! You're going into that room and you're going to keep an eye on her!" Inu-Yasha smirked, " It'll be fine."  
  
Shippo glared, " this is so.. so… humiliating."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The C.N.A. stared at the little strange looking plush that the white haired man had given her, "Alright, I suppose I could do at least that. But you can't go in yourself."  
  
"Just make sure she gets it lady." Inu-Yasha demanded, " It means a lot to her."  
  
The woman nodded.   
  
  
  
Inu-Yasha raced out of the hospital.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
When the C.N.A. came into the room, Katherine's eyes lit up, " Shippo-kun!" she held her arms out for the little Kit, and the woman smiled, "A man with white hair insisted I get this to you. He's kind of scruffy, but cute.." she tossed Shippo onto the bed, and Katherine grabbed him up gently, with an apologetic look.  
  
When the woman left, she looked at him again, " Where's Daddy?"  
  
Shippo sighed, " I don't know. I'm assuming that he's looking for a way to get in to see you."  
  
Katherine sighed, " The hospital called Rudy, didn't they?" she managed, and groaned, " That means she'll be here to take me back.."  
  
Shippo shook his head, " Inu-Yasha wont let her."  
  
Katherine nodded, " I hope you're right."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The jewel sat glimmering in his palm, just as whole as the first day he saw it with Kikyo. He took a deep breath. To be honest, Inu-Yasha had no idea how this wish thing was supposed to work. And really, he didn't even know if it was so much a wish as it was simply a change.  
  
He grasped it tightly, " Please.." he whispered, " If anyone's listening to me.. just.. "  
  
  
  
  
  
Katherine stared as Rudy came into the room. She clutched Shippo tightly against her.   
  
But Just as Rudy entered the room, there was a strange feeling inside of her. She looked down at Shippo, who stared up at her with shocked eyes. "Katherine.." he said softly, " You.."  
  
Rudy came over to the bed, and snatched up Shippo, " Another one?" she looked at Katherine, " These demons will damn you to hell!"  
  
Katherine stared at her mother, " They aren't the kind of demons you're thinking about.." she said softly. Oh go, her insides burned. She felt like she were going to vomit.   
  
Shippo bit Rudy on the hand, " You shouldn't talk like that to your daughter!" he snapped, and bounced up onto the bed, standing protectively in front of Katherine, " you leave her alone!"  
  
Rudy reached out to smack Shippo aside, but her hand never connected. And it never would.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Suddenly Katherine was sitting in a strange place that she had only seen in her dreams. The air lifted her hair from her face, and moved it around her neck.   
  
"D.. daddy?" she called softly.  
  
There was no reply for a moment. Shippo was in her lap. He sat straight up, as though waking from a dream. He stared in front of himself. Suddenly a huge smile broke out on his face, "The tree! We're in the tree!" he exclaimed, and jumped up in the air with joy.  
  
"The tr-" Katherine looked around her, and found that sure enough, she was in the great big tree that she'd seen in her dreams before. She trembled all over, and became scared. She clamped her arms around the branch she was on.   
  
There was a sound not to far from her. A rustling. Katherine picked it up with her small sharp ears, and she looked in the direction it came from. Shippo smiled, " Kagome!" his eyes lit up, as though he dared not believe.  
  
A beautiful woman, tall and slender with long black hair and sparkling eyes came out from the bushes, " Shippo-chan! There you are!" she smiled, " and Katherine too! It's not fair to hide up there! You know better than that!" she looked up at Katherine with a berating tone, " Shame on you. Your father isn't going to be happy that he has to get you down again. Honestly, Katherine. I don't know why you climb it when you're scared of heights." She smiled knowingly, and put her hands on her jean clad hips.  
  
Katherine opened her mouth and shut it quickly as Shippo all but attack Kagome. "Kagome, Kagome! I thought you were dead!" he sobbed against her.  
  
Kagome looked at the small kit in her arms, and smiled softly, " Oh Shippo. You're so silly. I'm not dead, I'm right here.."  
  
At about that moment, Katherine saw Inu-Yasha come out of the trees. He looked up at her with a knowing smile, and then at Kagome and Shippo.   
  
"Well are you just going to leave her there? Dinners going to get cold…" Kagome said in a smirking tone.  
  
"Would serve her right." Inu-Yasha winked up at Katherine, who stared in shock. She still couldn't figure out what was going on.  
  
Kagome sighed, " Inu-Yashaaaaaaa…" she warned.  
  
Inu-Yasha smirked, " Alright, alright. We'll be along in a moment." He waved her off, but not without first giving her a kiss on the lips.  
  
She smiled, " Inu-Yasha!"  
  
HE smiled back, and she walked off.  
  
Then he turned his attention to the young girl clinging for her life to the tree he had been sealed ages before. "Well are you going to come down?" he joked softly.  
  
"What's going on?" Katherine all but cried out. She was so confused.  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled softly, and leapt up into the tree with her, sitting on the branch beside, and just below her. "Do you remember what I told you about the Shikkon no Tama?" he asked.  
  
Katherine thought about it, " Vaguely."  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled a bit, " Shippo gave me the idea. The wishing part, I mean. He gave me the idea for all this."  
  
"Still confused, and clinging for my life to this tree…" Katherine said smartly.   
  
Inu-Yasha reached up for her, and slipped her from the branch she was sitting on, and into his lap, sideways, " The wish. The jewel granted one wish. And I wished for this."  
  
"and Just what is this?" Katherine asked.  
  
He smiled, " This is an alternate future, I guess." He said honestly, " see, I was afraid of wishing Kagome back, because she might have come back as some sort of soul-less demon… But then, Shippo gave me the idea the other night… what if I didn't just wish for her back, but just to change everything all together. And no like, just wish to be in the past with her, but wish that things had turned out differently."  
  
"Different how?" Katherine asked softly.  
  
Inu-Yasha smirked, " you mean you can't feel it yet?"  
  
"Feel what?"  
  
He shoved her off his lap.  
  
She screamed. And landed on her feet.  
  
"You jerk! I could have been… kill… killed? Whoa.." she looked down at herself, and her eyes opened wide. "I'm on my feet…" her eyes filled with tears, and she looked up at him, " But.. it's so far up there.. and I didn't even hardly feel the landing.." her eyes filled with joy, and she looked up at Inu-Yasha, " You fixed me!" she laughed with joy, even though the words could have been better put.   
  
HE smiled down at her, " well… you saved me from a lifetime as a doll. And demons live for a long time." He landed gracefully next to her on the ground, his body seemingly defying gravity. He didn't make a sound on the soft grass underneath him.  
  
"But.. what about Kagome? Does she know? And Dori!" she exclaimed.  
  
Inu-Yasha smiled, and patted her on the head, "It's all alright now, Katherine." He assured her gently, " Dori and Kagome and the others don't have a clue what's happened, or that anything has changed. Only you and Shippo and I know the truth." He put his hand on her head, and ruffled her hair.  
  
Katherine checked herself quickly, and looked at Inu-Yasha, " Has anything else changed?"  
  
He smiled a bit, and shook his head no, " No. Other than you being able to walk, and being my daughter for real now, nothing has changed."  
  
"So no dog ears?" Katherine said sweetly, walking with him through the woods.  
  
Inu-Yasha smirked, " You'd think you'd be grateful."  
  
Katherine looked up at Inu-Yasha, eyes sparkling with happiness, " I am, daddy! Oh I am!" She grasped him around the stomach, embracing him tightly.  
  
"Good. Now, your mother has prepared dinner, and as I understand it, we're going to be late." He started to walk fast, and Katherine struggled for a moment to catch up. But she stayed in pace with him. And then he began to job. And then run. And in a moment, Katherine had lost sight of him. She looked around for him in the direction he'd gone off in, but saw him nowhere.  
  
A second later, she felt something behind her, as she was suddenly picked up into the air, and swung up on Inu-Yasha's back, hair flying in the clean air around her.   
  
Dori smirked at his younger sibling as she and Inu-Yasha bound into the small clearing where their house was. He was sitting on the front porch of the house, watching for them. His eyes dark, and his hair black like his mothers. His ears were slightly pointed at the ends, and his hands looked vaguely like Inu-Yasha's own claws But other than that, he seemed to be a human adult, probably in his twenties or so. He waved when he saw them.  
  
"oi, Imotouchan! You went hiding again!" he smirked, " You know 'Kaasan always finds you in the tree right?" he asked with a smirk.  
  
When Katherine was finished with her meal with her new family, she went back outside to enjoy her new freedom. Her legs moved underneath her with ease that she had never known before. She could barely feel herself as she walked, enjoying her new surroundings.  
  
The feudal era was beautiful. The air was clean, the rivers were crystalline.   
  
And best of all, She had a family now.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Authors note: Quite possibly the worst multi chapter fic I've ever written. With a really pathetic ending. But at least the spellings decent this time around. *sighs* oh well. I hope you enjoyed it! ~Kat 


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